To See You Again
by sangheilitat117
Summary: When a new threat from the Void is unleashed upon Valoran, Vi is selected as part of a team to halt it. But when things go wrong, and she is sucked into the Void, time is warped and two years have passed in the real world. Piltover is no longer the city of progress, having fallen prey to gangs and criminals, and Caitlyn is nowhere to be found. Will they ever be re-united?
1. Chapter 1

Caitlyn stormed into the apartment, slamming the door behind her. She practically threw her famous purple hat onto the side table by the door, and marched into her bedroom.

The front door opened a second time, this time admitting Piltover's infamous Enforcer.

"Cupcake, wait, please!" Vi scrambled after the sheriff, trying to catch up to her. Before she could get close, Caitlyn pushed past her on her way back out the bedroom, car keys in hand. She purposefully stared straight ahead and refused to make eye contact with Vi. The pinkette could see that her partner was fuming with anger.

"Cait, I'm sorry, alright! I get it, I screwed up again, but how the fuck was I supposed to know he wasn't bluffing?!"

Caitlyn stopped in the frame of the front door, with her back to Vi, still refusing to look at her.

"Vi, the problem is not that you "screwed up again."Caitlyn said with regret (and… sympathy?) in her posh accent. "The problem is that no matter what I tell you, or what I do, you consistently refuse to follow my direct orders in the field. Most of the time it might cause the city some property damage, or injuries to the victims, but this time… This time it has cost a young woman her life. Think about that Vi. Please. Before you foolhardily rush into another hostage situation. Or ANY situation where there are lives at risk."

Caitlyn glanced backward at Vi, and saw that she was simply staring at the floor, slouched against the wall with her hands in her pockets. She looked like she was struggling for something to say. Before Vi could open her mouth, and before Caitlyn let herself think twice, she walked out the door.

Vi simply stood there, cursing herself and her lack of self-control, until the sound of Caitlyn's car pulling out of the garage and roaring off snapped her back into reality. She looked around the apartment, and for the first time in a long while, she truly and sincerely regretted her actions. The men robbing the department store had looked like typical low-class workers, just disgruntled men trying to make enough money to get by, not ruthless murderers.

When Vi had charged the storefront they occupied, with her blast shield up and vault breaker charging, the last possibility on her mind was that the man holding the clerk hostage would actually pull the trigger. And she knew that Caitlyn was right… she didn't follow orders, she didn't listen to suggestions, in fact most of the time she simply pretended not to hear Caitlyn. She mostly let her fists make the tactical decisions for her. Never before had her methods had such dire consequences.

"Fuck." Tired beyond belief, both in mind and body, Vi dragged herself over to the couch in the living room and simply slumped down, quickly falling asleep. She didn't even bother to remove her gauntlets.

* * *

Caitlyn pushed her foot down on the gas pedal, gunning the engine and speeding down the highway even faster. She was well past the Piltover city limits, just driving without thought or direction. The sound of the engine was calming. But the night was dark, and the lights of the speeding cars in the opposite lane made her tired eyes hurt. Yet no part of her hurt as much as her heart did, for despite what a casual observer might think, she loved Vi with every ounce of her being. Hell, sometimes in her darker moments she realized that Vi was, quite frankly, her only reason for living anymore. The Enforcer was her everything, her laugh, her smile, her unshakable loyalty, her crazy pink mohawk, the way she gave Caitlyn all the attention in the world, the way she acted like Caitlyn was the only person in the room when they were together. And heaven help the unfortunate soul who tried to get between them. Vi's fists had a tendency to precede any rational thought she might have when someone tries to come on to Caitlyn.

And Caitlyn knew, without a doubt, that Vi felt the same way about her. She knew that Vi would sacrifice her own life for the Sheriff's without a moment of hesitation, and the brunette would do the same for her deputy. But sometimes, mostly in the field, Vi was just a pain in her ass. She could be so damn stubborn, she sometimes caused as much trouble as she was trying to fix. As efficient as their field record was, that was simply because both Caitlyn and Vi were so good at catching criminals on their own. Instead of the two working together, most actual operations tended to devolve into two lone wolves trying to fight each other and the enemy at the same time. If Vi charging headlong into danger didn't work, Caitlyn's methodical planning, patience, and incredible skill with her longrifle usually took care of what brute force and giant hextech fists couldn't.

Unfortunately though, nothing was for certain when it came to the streets. Sometimes the men you thought were simply bluffing, and using hostages to get away with their lives intact were actually hardened criminals. Criminals who wouldn't hesitate to kill their hostages, if it meant they could focus on other problems than attempting to restrain a struggling young girl.

That poor girl… Caitlyn had seen the fear and desperation in her eyes, right before the man's revolver ended whatever hope she had had for a brighter future. And as much as the brunette tried to focus on Vi's face, and what she meant to her, her thoughts kept returning to the young girl's face right before the man painted the wall with her brains. Caitlyn grit her teeth in anger and pushed the pedal further into the floor, driving on into the night.

* * *

Vi awoke from her fitful slumber on the couch with a start, as her watch's alarm blared a shrill tone into her ear. Fuck, what was she supposed to get up and do? It must have been something important, since it was still only 4am… oh that's right! The League of Legends had contacted her a day ago, and instructed her to be at the Institute of War by 7 in the morning. Something urgent, apparently.

Vi wondered again what was so important, since they never summoned champions that early for something as routine as regular matches. And why did they need her, and not another jungler? Sure, she was getting a lot of attention from high-level summoners in the jungle lately, and every AD carry across the land feared her Assault and Battery. But the League knew she was on break, and Vi still couldn't think of any reason for them to summon her in any official capacity. She didn't know, and she instinctively didn't like it. Call it a bad feeling.

She was still fully dressed and armored, and she didn't feel like waking Caitlyn by turning on the shower. Plus, if she was being honest with herself, she was feeling too lazy at the moment anyway. As she got up from the couch and walked to the front door, she cringed as she heard her name called.

"Vi." Caitlyn was standing in the hallway leading to their bedroom, leaning against the wall. She had obviously been woken up by the pinkette's alarm, her hair was frazzled and she had dark circles under her eyes.

"I assume you're leaving for the Institute." Caitlyn had a note of tiredness in her voice.

"Yeap." Vi was still staring at the ground, too embarrassed to look the love of her life in the eyes.

"Well… just…" Caitlyn was at an uncharacteristic loss for words. "Just be careful, do you hear me? We still haven't actually talked about what happened."

Ugh. Vi knew what Caitlyn meant by "talking." She would just be berated and scolded by the Sheriff, as if she was a disobedient teenager who got caught sneaking out for the tenth time that month.

"Yeah, I got it cupcake, we can talk all you want when I get back. I got things to do right now. Just save all the bullshit for later." Vi walked out the door and closed it before the brunette could say anything in response.

"Shit… Vi that's not what I meant…" Caitlyn whispered softly. "Why am I still so bad at this?" Caitlyn made up her mind. As soon as Vi returned home, she would fix things between them. She would tell Vi how she still loved her with all her heart, and that she didn't blame the young girl's death on her. They would kiss and make up, and everything would be just like it was before.

Caitlyn walked into her room and looked out the window. There, in the distance, she could see her Enforcer walking down the street toward the monorail station that connected Piltover to the League. Such technology was sorcery to the rest of Valoran, but part of everyday life to the City of Progress. She watched the former criminal with a smile on her lips, noting how Vi walked with her gauntlets and arms crossed behind her head, as if daring the world to challenge her. She was always so headstrong…

"I love you Vi…" Caitlyn whispered to the empty room.

* * *

_Two years later..._

Caitlyn woke from her hidden spot on the rooftop of a 6 story building, shivering as her waking mind registered her rain-drenched body. She sat up and looked around; checking that her rifle was still next to her and that no one was in immediate sight. The ex-sheriff pulled her grey cloak tighter around herself, blending in with the stone of the building. She had to be careful. It had been 4 days, and still the police force of Piltover was on its manhunt to find and kill the vigilante sniper known as "Archangel."

How had it all come to this? Caitlyn stared blankly into the rain as she tried to make sense of the past two years, and failed yet again. She pulled out her wallet and fished out a picture of Vi and herself. The Enforcer had her trademark grin on her face, embracing Caitlyn from behind, the both of them looking like they didn't have a care in the world. Oh Vi…

It had been two years since the Enforcer's disappearance from the face of Valoran, without a single clue left behind. The League never told her what had happened on that fateful day, when she had left in the early morning. And when she left, she left on bad terms with Caitlyn. That was the worst part, the former Sheriff had never gotten the chance to say goodbye. Never gotten to tell her how much she meant to her, how she wanted to spend the rest of her life with her, to even simply apologize for pushing her away in the first place. Before she could stop them, tears started streaming their way down her face. Caitlyn sniffed and wiped her face with the sleeve of her cloak, the tears mixing with the rain on another grey morning in the city of Piltover. She didn't have much anymore, but she would give up everything she had just to see Vi again. To hold her, and feel her warmth just one more time.

Caitlyn got up, holding the picture close to her heart before folding it away. She strapped her rifle to her back and made sure her pistol was still loaded. Taking a running start, she jumped off the edge of the roof, and used the hextech grappling device on her arm to shoot an incredibly high-powered hook at a stone gargoyle on a nearby roof. She swung across and landed on the wall below the stone demon, bracing her legs for the impact. Triggering the device again, it retracted the line, and pulled her up with it. Taking up a knee on the gargoyle, she unlimbered her rifle and sighted in, searching for a target, be it crooked cops or the gangs that now roamed the streets freely. Caitlyn was perfectly still, just another grey shadow on the rooftops, but one with lethal intent.

"Back to work…" she whispered to the rain.

A/N: Sooo this is my first fic ever. First time writing anything just for fun ever too. I ship Cait and Vi so hard and I just wanted to do them some justice, even if I'm taking a somewhat different approach in the story. Feel free to comment/criticize/flame or whatever you feel like. Should I continue?


	2. Chapter 2

_Two Years Back_

Vi snapped her head up, eliciting stares from the few other passengers on the train, some civilians and a summoner or two. The rumble of the tram let her know it had arrived at its destination. The Institute of War, home of the League of Legends and pretty much the political, military, and social center of power in Valoran. It had been a few years since the League's inception, and thanks to the shrewd politics of the High Summoners, the city at the base of the mountain, Toir, had become arguably the biggest power in Valoran. Sure the other city-states went about their business and had their little squabbles and minor wars, but when the League spoke, **everyone **listened. And while Noxus and Demacia might be able to muster armies capable of challenging the League, the combined magical prowess of the summoners had proved again and again that they could defeat any conventional army with almost no difficulty.

The funny thing was, Vi couldn't care less about the politics of Valoran. The only thing that concerned her was Piltover, and her Caitlyn. And if she could be forced to admit it, Jinx. That crazy bitch got on her nerves more than she would like.

Lost in thought about Caitlyn, and how she could fix things between them when she got back, Vi didn't even realize she had reached the massive steps at the base of the League until she nearly tripped on them.

"Oh-shit…" Vi muttered as she caught herself on the next step.

Damn was she really that pre-occupied?

Glancing around she saw a group of summoners snickering at her, and Vi promptly gave them an obscene gesture with her middle finger as she began climbing the massive staircase.

"_Who the hell designed this anyway_?" Vi thought to herself. "_Who the fuck is like_, "_Oh I should just build 1000 fucking gay-ass stairs so everyone who has to walk up them is just tired as fuck. Yeah, that's a great idea_."

As much as she hated them, Vi was quite fit, one generally had to be to punch through walls and chase criminals all over Piltover. Did she mention she could punch through walls? Vi thought that was particularly awesome. And as much as she apologized to Caitlyn about it, secretly it was her favorite part of the job. I mean, tons of people talk about punching through walls, but she ACTUALLY did it! Damn she was awesome.

She reached the top of the staircase with little difficulty and made her way up to the front gates. It was then that she realized that she actually had no idea where she was supposed to go once she got here. The message hadn't been that specific. Another bad sign. Fortunately for her, one of the guards quickly recognized her and stepped forward.

"Ah, Miss Vi, glad to se-HURK"  
Vi stepped forward and grabbed the man by shirt, lifting him a good two feet off the ground.

"Don't. Ever. Call. Me. Miss. Again." Vi threatened as the man gasped for breath.

"O-of course… c-can I just call you…V-vi then?"

The pinkette dropped the man on his ass, and he looked embarrassed as he dusted himself off.

"You can call me whatever the fuck you want, as long as it's not ma'am, or miss, or some other stupid shit. Ya got it?"

"Yes… Vi. Now, as I was trying to say earlier, the High Summoner requests your presence in her chambers. She asks you to report there immediately.

"Yeah whatever. I'll take my damn time." Vi said as she stepped past the man and into the Institute.

"Fucking bitch…" the guard muttered under his breath as soon as he was sure she was out of earshot.

Vi felt a little bad about embarrassing the guard in front of all his buddies, but hey, she had an image to maintain. Plus, calling her miss really pissed her off.

* * *

Before long, Vi found herself walking down the long corridor that led to Vessaria Kolminye's office. She was surprised to see that the door was closed, and Lux was leaning against the wall, looking just as surprised to see another champion as Vi was.

"Sup Lux? Guess we're here for the same thing?" Most people found Lux annoying, what with how happy she always seemed, but Vi sort of enjoyed her cheeriness. Vi thought she was a lot smarter than she acted too.

"Hi Vi! Yeap, were you summoned by the High Councilor too? Hmm, she's always so mysterious. Heh, I wonder what she's hiding… anyway, know why we're here?" Lux's high pitched voice echoed in the long hall.

"Naw, you probably know more than I do. So how are you and Riven?"

Not many people knew about their relationship, but Vi had caught them a few times in the more secluded areas of the League while she was wandering around, and had promised not to tell anyone. It wouldn't exactly look good for either city-state if a member of the noble family sworn to protect the king of Demacia was caught with a Noxian.

Lux blushed and looked at the ground. "Yeah… heh heh, we're just fine. Riven has some matches scheduled today, so it frees me up. For whatever this is."

Vi smiled, "Good to hear it." She always thought they made a great couple. For some reason everyone though Ezrael was dating Lux.

"_Pfft. As if Lux would ever settle for someone as retarted as that gay little explorer. I bet he has a great time exploring Taric… heh_." Vi thought to herself while smirking.

Vi noticed movement down the other end of the hallway, and to her surprise, saw Nasus, Lucian, and Kassadin making their way down the hallway. Nasus looked as regal as ever, using his staff as a walking stick. Lucian had his pistols holstered and had that blank expression on his face, like he always did unless he was shooting at something. And Kassadin… well Kass looked as weird as ever. He floated a few inches above the floor, leaving some sort of weird trail of purple lines behind him. The strange lines scattered and disintegrated a few feet behind him.

Vi tried to think of why this particular entourage might be gathered together, but any idea escaped her.

Nasus reached the door first, and inclined his head in greeting. "Good morning Lux, Vi. How are you two today?" He said in his infinitely deep voice.

"Great Nasus, and how are you?" Lux smiled as she addressed the librarian.

"As ever, my humors remain in a state of well-being. The stars are not concerned with what goes on around them, and neither am I."

"_Damn, always so formal, this guy obviously needs to drink more. Like, a lot more_." Vi thought to herself. "_Heh, I wonder if that stupid stick he carries is as big as the one up his ass_."

Lucian leaned forward with his hands in his white trenchcoat. "So, do you two know why we've been requested? Seems like a peculiar group to me."

"Beats me, I thought maybe you guys had an id-" Vi was cut off as the door magically opened, granting the five of them access to the office of one of the most powerful women in Valoran.

* * *

Lux and Vi glanced at eachother, then followed as Nasus stepped through first, purposeful strides taking him to the desk where High Summoner Kolminye sat. The room was large and felt warm and welcoming, dark brown wood and carpeted floor giving a sense of security. A large fireplace sent scattered shadows flickering about the room. Bookshelves lined all but one of the walls, the one opposite them being a massive window granting a spectacular view of the Fields of Justice.

"Greetings Champions, you're all obviously wondering why I have summoned you here." Vessaria took a sip of the red wine she was holding.

"_Damn, I wonder if she has any real alcohol around here_." The scent of the wine made her want to drink. Actually, a lot of things made her want to drink.

Vessaria gestured to the seats in front of the desk. "Please, take a seat. As a matter of haste, I'm going to cut right to the heart of the matter."

As all the champions but Nasus took a seat, the high mage addressed the group with her noble, cultured voice.

"Most, if not all of you, are quite familiar with the alternate dimension connected to ours, referred to most often as the Void. Sometimes our realities are bridged, if only for a short moment. And every single time this happens, something horrible is unleashed upon Valoran. It has happened three times so far, that we know of, and each successive portal has brought forth Cho'Gath, Kog'Maw, and Kha'Zix. Fortunately for us so far, we have managed to capture and contain these horrific beasts, but it gets more difficult every time. Hundreds died in the attempts to capture Kha'Zix. Kassadin here, has informed me that a new portal will open soon. And what will be unleashed will be more powerful than anything we have seen before."

Lux let out a gasp, and Lucian glanced at the other champions, looking concerned. Nasus had remained standing, and looked towards the ceiling in contemplation. Only Kassadin showed no visible signs of reaction, and stared straight at Vessaria, as he had done since he entered the room. What a weird guy.

"Kassadin, if you would?"

Kassadin turned to look at the other champions, and his strange voice sounded both incredibly far away, and strangely mechanical at the same time. Vi found herself wondering what exactly had happened to him to make him this way.

"During one of my recent ventures into the Void, I detected a massive source of power, characteristic of an incredibly dangerous Void being. And near it, an ever-weakening area of the barrier between our worlds. I mostly stay away from such high-level Void beings if I can avoid it, but this was not an issue I could afford to ignore. The Void is not such as you can understand it, one does not simply walk through it, but rather floats, in almost a spirit form. Disguising my soul's signature, I avoided the detection of the creature, as it was focused on widening the rift. It cloaked itself the same way I did, and I was not able to identify it. But I was able to determine where the rift will open, and that it will open soon. Precisely, it will be forced wide in exactly 21 hours. Whatever appears on the other side of that portal, it needs to be stopped. Immediately, before it can cause any damage. Kog'Maw consumed entire villages when he was released, Cho'Gath slaughtered armies, and Kha'Zix killed hundreds before he was restrained. And this entity, whatever it is, is more powerful than any of them. It must be stopped, at all costs."

The Enforcer didn't actually have any experience with the Void outside of League matches, but she knew the basics, and she figured that whatever Kassadin was talking about, it would be a bitch to take down. Vi looked at the other champions, wondering what they thought of this. Lux looked determined, she normally did once she had an actual mission to focus on. Given that Lucian's profession was hunting down and killing horrific creatures, Vi wasn't surprised that that neutral look remained on his face. His hands were resting on his pistols though. Nasus looked like he always did, a dog. Vi wondered if he was even capable of facial expressions.

"So… do we have a plan?" Vi asked.

Kassadin looked straight at her, and Vi felt an involuntary chill run down her spine.

"Of course I have a plan, otherwise I would not have gathered you all here. The portal is already partially formed, in the Ironspike mountains to the north of here. Most of you are familiar with it. I have personally selected this team for a number of reasons. Nasus, you are wise beyond measure and, we will all need cool heads to face this beast. Your wither will undoubtedly be invaluable in preventing its escape. And with your Fury of the Sands, you should be able to draw most of the creatures attention to yourself, thus giving the rest of us an opportunity to destroy or capture it."

He turned to Lucian.

"Lucian, you have hunted horrific beasts for your entire life, and I know whatever comes out of this portal will not faze you in the slightest. As a champion of the living and the natural, I know you will not let this monster escape while you still draw breath. We will need your long range fire to distract the beast as well."

Kassadin shifted in his chair to face the light mage.

"Lux, you are ever a shining light of hope and reason. And you are quite brilliant, so I am sure you will have no trouble coming up with a plan to defeat the beast if things go awry. Your ability to use light as a binding will be our main method of confining the creature. Also, I do not know what its abilities will be, so it may be able to cloak itself in some way. Your use of light should be able to negate that."

Vi recognized what Kassadin was doing, he was complimenting and highlighting the strengths of each champion, partly to make them trust him, and partly to make them all feel better about working together. Apparently the man knew the basics of leadership.

He turned to face Vi, who looked quite bored with the whole spectacle.

"And lastly, Vi. For lack of a better word, we need muscle. We need someone who can go toe-to-toe with this beast, and, how would you say, "Beat the ever-living shit out of it?"

Vi found herself laughing, maybe Kassadin was cooler than she thought. Anyone who said "ever-living shit" was alright in her book.

Kassadin turned back to High Councilor Kolminye.

"With your permission, I would see the five of us simply summoned to the portal's location, since we are at a loss for time, and need to prepare a plan once we reach the area."

Vessaria nodded, "That should be no problem, given that the situation is so dire. Normally we don't just teleport Champions wherever they wish, but these are extenuating circumstances."

"Good then, how soon can we leave?"

"I shall gather my best summoners immediately, be in summoning chamber 23 in half an hour." Vessaria took a last sip of her wine, finishing the glass. "You are dismissed, all of you."

The champions stood up and left the room, giving eachother concerned glances as they left.

* * *

30 minutes passed quickly, as the five champions were busy discussing tactics and how they could combine their abilities with eachother for tons of damage. Vi was busy wondering just how useful Nasus was going to be a straight fight, as he wouldn't have the opportunity to farm his siphoning strike for thirty minutes. Cheap fuck.

The chamber was a small, square grey room, with five purple crystals hovering over a circular platform in the middle of the chamber. There was only one door, and it opened to admit High Councilor Kolminye and 5 other summoners. Their robes were lined with gold, so Vi assumed they were pretty high up the ranks.

"_Dirty smurfs_." She thought to herself.

Stepping toward the circular platform, Vessaria addressed the room.

"Champions, if you would please, lay your hand on the crystals. One per champion."

They did as asked, Vi noting how cold the crystal was, and how strange it felt, almost like it was alive with a sort of electricity. She understood hex-tech machinery like no one else, except maybe that stupid inventor with a brain for his hair, but magic was completely out of her comfort zone. It always managed to bother her. And Vi wasn't bothered by much.

"Summoners, if you would be so kind, begin the teleportation ritual."

The five summoners took up position on the central platform, looking outwards, each one facing towards a crystal and a champion. They laid their hands on the crystals as well, and began muttering a strange incantation, their faces hidden in the voluminous folds of their hoods.

"Eee ayy asuuu dominae… Dona ayy ees requiaaay." The mantra repeated itself over and over. Vi snickered at how funny it would be if they started hitting themselves in the face with wooden planks while saying it. Idiots and their chanting.

As the ritual continued, Vi found her thoughts turning to Caitlyn. It had just occurred to her that she might actually be hurt, or worse in the upcoming struggle, and it would be the worst thing she could imagine if the last thing she had said to Caitlyn was to spare her the bullshit. She really did need to treat her better, Caitlyn didn't deserve that. She was just feeling so guilty at the clerk's death, and Caitlyn had forced her to face feelings she didn't want to deal with quite yet. Still, it wasn't Caitlyn's fault and she realized that she should've said something to her before she left.

"_Alright then Cait, don't you worry one bit, there is no fucking way I'm going to die without the last words from me being I love you. Hell, there's no way I'm going to die period, we're gonna be together forever_…_right_?"

At that moment in time Vi wanted nothing more than to feel Caitlyn's warm embrace. Her touch was so soft and gentle, and it was even better knowing that no one saw that sweet, fuzzy side of Caitlyn except for her.

Unfortunately, Vi's train of thought was derailed as she noticed the crystal she had her hand upon was quite hot, and the energy coursing through it was electrifying. With a sudden spike of volume in their voice, the summoners finished their chant. There was a loud bang, and everything went white.

"I hate magic." Vi thought as her world vanished in blinding flashes.

* * *

_A/N: I KEEP FORGETTING AUTHORS NOTES. IM NEW OKAY. Yeah so for one, this is definitely going to be a long story. And I definitely, am going to finish it. If there's one thing I hate, it's sitting there watching my favorite stories not get updated month after month. Also yes, I completely ripped off Garrus Vakarian from ME2 for Caitlyns moniker. But hey, who doesn't love Garrus? I'll probably keep putting out chapters at this pace, one every few days. I play League A LOT, and that's also why I make so many references to the game. Such as Nasus q stacks, and phreak's famous "tons of damage" quote. SO anyway a lot of times after playing like 20 matches in a row I'm a little bored, and my favorite fics haven't updated. So I figured hey, why not start writing? I'm gonna make Kassadin a major character in this fic, since he's in like 5 total. I love Kassadin, and I grab him in mid whenever he's not banned by bronzies who can't lane against him. HURR 7 SECOND FLASH OP NERF RITO PLOX. Also heads up, I'm gonna try my hand at a big fight scene next chapter. Hopefully it goes good. Thanks to all of you, I honestly didn't expect such positive reviews so quickly. Kill some teemos for me, _

_Talos out._


	3. Chapter 3

Sight. Sound. Smell. Feeling. All of these came rushing back to Vi, after what felt like being drowned in darkness for an eternity and an instant at the same time. The first thing she realized, is that she was falling. And that she was upside down.

"FUC-OOF" with a painful impact, she landed headfirst on the rocky ground. Quickly pulling herself back up, Vi glared at the other champions as they stared at her. It seems they had all somehow landed right side up.

Kassadin spoke up first. "Oh I see, the co-ordinates have to be-"

Vi punched him in the chest lightly, sending him reeling backward.

"Right... my apologies."

Lucian grinned. "Good thing ya got such a thick skull eh?"

Vi glared back at him. "Thick enough to headbutt you into oblivion. Wanna try?"

"Nope, we obviously have better things to do. Such as worry about that thing."

With a pointed finger, Lucian indicted the strange glowing purple sphere roughly 50 feet away from the group of champions.

Vi quickly scanned the area, her police training kicking in as she registered the threat. The sphere floated ten feet off the ground, in the center of a clearing, which Vi estimated to be around a football field in length and width.

"_Hmmph. Good area for a fight... but no cover. That'll be a problem if this thing has any range like Kog'Maw does_."

The clearing was surrounded by evergreen trees, tall and dark. The ground was rocky and rough, with a few scraggly looking bushes scattered around. Vi found herself wondering what had made this open space. The sun was shining down brightly, and the scent of the forest floated by them with a light breeze. Unsurprisingly, there was no noise at all, not even chirping birds. The only sound was the strange hum of Kassadin's machinery. The Enforcer was expecting this, as whenever the Void champs appeared on the Rift, the area around them went dead somehow. What few animals existed on the Rift quickly vacated the area near them. Most people wouldn't think it, but Vi's observational skills were "top-notch," as Caitlyn referred to them. Years of being a police officer would do that to a person, even if said person was usually busy punching their immediate surroundings.

"The portal opens in roughly 20 hours. We should use the time we have to prepare a plan, create obstacles and cover, and rest when that is finished," Kassadin said with his strange echoing voice.

He appeared to have de facto command of the group, even though Nasus would be more experienced with this sort of thing. However, his knowledge of the Void was mostly based on his extensive book learning, while Kassadin probably had more actual experience with it than anyone save for Malhazar.

"What I intend to do is create a box of sorts, of trees, around the Void portal. When the creature emerges, it will find itself trapped, and most likely confused. From there, Lucian and Lux can set the wood on fire with their concentrated light. The creature will likely have no experience with flame, hopefully confusing it further. Once it frees itself and we have a clear view of it, we should be able to come up with a hasty plan to either kill it, or force it back into the Void. If we can do enough damage to it, it will be forced to escape back through the portal, which will undoubtedly be two-way. The Void would not risk forcing such a powerful creature into our world with no means of escape. And even if it does escape, it is still a victory for us. This portal took weeks to open even this far, and it would give us time to prepare for the next one. One last thing." Kassadin pointedly looked at each champion in turn before speaking. "This creature must be stopped at all costs. At. All. Costs. Even our own lives must be offered up. Because if this creature escapes, it will most certainly take hundreds more, and there's no telling if the League will be able to restrain a beast of such raw power." Kassadin turned to stare at the portal. "Now, Vi and Nasus, if you two would begin felling some of the surrounding trees with your staff and your... fists, we can begin the construction of the cage."

Vi grunted in acknowledgment, and walked over to the nearest 50 foot tree. She charged her gauntlets with excessive force, and violently punched a giant hole in it with a loud "**CRACK**". Unable to keep all of it's weight on the remaining wood, the tree gave out a loud groan and began to fall towards the clearing.

"It's going down! Timber!" Vi yelled.

With a mighty slam, the tree fell down, and Vi casually walked over to the fallen giant and charged her gauntlets again, before punching it in half.

"Lux, I know you're a light mage and all, but do you know telekin... whatever that crap is where you move objects with your mind?

Lux beamed brightly at the suggestion. "Of course! I only choose to use light magic in matches because the League only lets me use one type at a time. Something about being too unpredictable. I'm quite skilled in most forms of magic."

"Great, so then can you pick up these pieces with your mind and start stacking them around the portal?"

Lux nodded in affirmation, and slipped her wand into a leather loop on her thigh. Narrowing her eyes and raising her hands, Lux lifted her arms into the air, palms upraised and fingers open. The half she selected began to raise into the air, and as Lux moved her arms, it too moved towards the portal. Setting it down on the ground, she then promtly did the same with the other piece, until it was parallel to the other one, on opposite sides of the rift.

Vi was so busy being impressed at Lux's skillful display that she winced when there was another loud crash, signifying the toppling of another tree. Looking towards the cloud of dust, Vi saw that Nasus had felled an evergreen simply by smashing it with a siphoning strike. Figures he wouldn't need to even stack the ability outside of the Rift. Most champions had restrictions imposed upon them during matches, such as Lux's restriction to one type of magic, and Nasus' limit on the power of his siphoning strike. If the League didn't impose such restrictions, some champions, such as Syndra, would be absolutely unstoppable.

Vi had heard of the Dark Sovereign ripping the roof off of one of the main buildings of the Institute, and manifesting hundreds of dark spheres to kill a summoner who had somehow enraged her. Not that it was hard to piss off the mage, but Vi had to shudder at the thought of facing her with her full power, on or off the Rift. Vi didn't have any real restrictions, aside from the damage her gauntlets were allowed to do. Vi found herself laughing at the thought of her Sheriff with no handicap, thinking of Caitlyn climbing a tree and sniping the other team while they were in their spawn.

Bringing herself back to reality, Vi returned to the treeline and began charging her gauntlets for another punch.

Working efficiently between them, with Nasus and Vi felling trees, and Lux moving them with her mind, the barrier was constructed in a few hours. Lucian busied himself in the surrounding woods hunting deer for them to eat, while Kassadin simply stared at the portal and muttered to himself.

"_What a fuckin weirdo... Damn, all that hard work is making me crave some booze... why do I always forget that shit on these kind of trips? Oh wait!_" Vi reached into a pocket on the inside of her jacket and produced a small steel flask, lined with gold. Etched into the front were the words "To Piltover's favorite Enforcer, and my favorite Officer." "May you never be thirsty in your time of need," was engraved on the back. Vi quickly unscrewed the cap and took a long draught, savoring the burning feeling in her throat and the warm glow in her stomach. If there was one thing she loved more than punching people, and being with Caitlyn, it was alcohol. Looking back at the flask, Vi found herself thinking of Caitlyn once more.

She remembered with perfect clarity the Snowdown the Sheriff had gifted it to her.

* * *

"_Fuckin Snowdown... fuckin presents... fuckin trees..." Vi leaned her head back as she sprawled out on her couch, alone in her dingy apartment in the not-so-well-off side of Piltover. She was wearing a black shirt that said "Dark Tranquility" and a pair of sweat pants. Hey, they were comfortable. She glanced over at the pathetic looking Snowdown tree sitting in the corner, next to her workbench covered in scrapped parts and various tools of questionable purpose. The little tree had already lost half of it's needles due to Vi's lack of care, and a single red ornament drooped from the sturdiest branch. The words "Fuck this shit" were scrawled in permanent marker on the side. Shaking her head, the pinkette took another drink of the large bottle she held in her hand. Noxian Firewater. The strong stuff. _

_Vi was, at the moment, thoroughly depressed. Normally Snowdown was supposed to elicit feelings of happiness and comfort, as people enjoyed being with their friends and family, and opening presents, and large dinners, and all that sort of shit. But not Vi. Nope, see the problem was, she thought to herself, was that she didn't really have any friends. Or family. Being raised on the streets, then being adopted into a gang, then subsequently abandoning and causing the arrest of said gang, tended to leave one without any strong social ties. Vi was never really bothered by the lack of family, but she did feel lonely most of the time, if she was being honest with herself. She had started to think that maybe Caitlyn and her were friends, seeing as how they'd been working together for almost a year now. But, since Caitlyn was spending Snowdown with her parents, and hadn't even bothered to wish Vi a happy Snowdown on their way out of the precinct the night prior, Vi figured that she had simply imagined their growing friendship. _

_Caitlyn was an ice queen, never approachable unless you had business to discuss with her. It didn't really help that Vi liked Caitlyn as more than a friend too. The Sheriff was the only one who had ever shown even a passing interest in the ex-con. Being alone for so long, Vi wasn't really surprised that she quickly formed an emotional attachment with her partner. It didn't help that she was fucking gorgeous. And on the few occasions she let her work persona slip, Caitlyn was genuinely a warm and caring person, who never hesitated to help someone in need. Vi wished she could see more of that side of her. She wondered what exactly had caused the Sheriff to select her as her partner... and not lock her up like any other criminal. No one else seemed that interested in the pinkette, besides the gang that had picker her up when she was younger. Turned out they were only using her to further their own goals though. Was that what Caitlyn was doing? Just using her as an asset, someone who happened to have insider knowledge of the streets, and as such, a valuable resource to be kept close by? Damn... She was overthinking things again. Probably. Right? Vi took another long swig of the bottle. _

"_Fuck snowdown..." Vi felt the dark tendrils of sleep begin to cloud her vision. And she surrendered willingly. Just as she slouched into the couch and began to drift off, there came a polite knocking at her front door. "Mmwhat the fuck? Ugh... who da hell.." Vi groggily walked over to the other side of her living room, her alcohol-addled mind failing to come up with any idea of who would be paying her a visit this late. After the third try, she finally managed to grasp the doorknob and yank the door open, finding to her shock, the Sheriff of Piltover, with her hand raised to knock again. The brunette was still dressed up for the holiday, wearing a long red dress with an open back, and her hair in a ponytail. Suddenly Vi felt sober again, and it wasn't from the cold air and snow blowing in the front door.  
_

"_C-Caitlyn? Uh... hi, wait how do you even know where I live?"_

"_Well, as the Sheriff I sort of have access to the addresses of everyone registered in the entire city... all I had to do was look you up. Did you know that you haven't paid your landlord in over 3 years?"_

"_Yeah... me and him have an... agreement of sorts..."_

"_Does it involve fists?" Caitlyn said with a disapproving glare._

_Vi sheepishly grinned and rubbed the back of her neck. Even if the Sheriff was scolding her, Vi was just incredibly happy that she had remembered that she existed at all, and was standing right there, on her doorstep, with her posh accent and everything. "Uh... maybe? Look he's just happy that I scare off any of the gangs that used to come by and press him for protection money, so it' a win-win." _

"_Right... anyway that wasn't why I stopped by. I... came to wish you a happy Snowdown. And I brought you a gift. You don't have any family on file and I figured you were probably doing..." Caitlyn looked down at the near-empty bottle of Firewater on Vi's living room table. "Whatever it is you do on your off time." _

"_Oh you know... fix my gauntlets. Drink. Watch some tv. Sometimes I even eat food!" _

_Caitlyn laughed at that one, and Vi wished she could hear that sound a lot more. When it was genuine, it was her favorite noise in the world. _

"_Well, may I come in?" Caitlyn said with a smirk on her face._

"_Oh, shit! My bad I kind of forgot it was snowing... step right inside!" Vi move aside as Caitlyn entered, shutting the door behind her. "Welcome to my humble abode. I know it's not the upscale housing you're used to, but it's pretty much all I've got. Honestly, it's just nice to have a place to call my own. I didn't have that for a while when I used to live on the streets."_

_Caitlyn sat down on the couch, and Vi sat down a comfortable distance away from her on the other side of it. Vi wished she could get closer but... what the hell was she thinking anyway? Caitlyn was probably secretly disgusted by her place, she was just so good at hiding her emotions. There's no way Caitlyn, with her rich family and position of power, would ever want to be with some poor ex-con who lived in a shitty apartment on the wrong side of town. She just wanted someone to be with though, to not feel so alone all the time... _

"_Vi? Hello? Earth to Vi?"_

"_Whaa, oh... sorry I was thinking." Vi grinned and rubbed the back of her neck. Why did she keep doing that? Having Caitlyn so close was making her nervous, she probably looked like an idiot. _

"_About what?" Caitlyn seemed interested, not in the least bit sarcastic, like she normally was while at work. _

"_You know, just..." Vi worked up the courage to ask the question that was on her mind. "Why are you here exactly? I mean, shouldn't you be with your family and all? Enjoying Snowdown? You've definitely got better things to do than come by my shitty apartment." _

_Caitlyn tapped her chin with her finger, and thought a bit before responding. "Well for one, you're my partner, if anything we should try to be more familiar with eachother... you know, to improve our ability to co-operate with eachother when we're at work."_

_At the words "more familiar with eachother," Vi's heart jumped a little, and at the words, "when we're at work," it sank right back to the dark depths it resided in. Yet all she did was nod her head._

"_And two, since you don't have any family, I figured I would stop by and see how you were doing. The holidays can be lonely if you spend them by yourself you know. And three, I wanted to get you a gift. To show you my appreciation. You've done some great work this past year. I might not always approve of your methods, but you get the job done, and you're more reliable than any of my other officers. Despite what everyone else says about you, I wouldn't have anyone else as my partner. I chose you for a reason Vi." _

_The pinkette's stomach did flips all over the place. Did Caitlyn actually... care? Vi always thought that Caitlyn chose her as a partner just to keep an eye on her, but did she actually WANT to have her as a partner? In a job such as theirs, that implies a serious amount of trust too. You don't want a partner you wouldn't trust with your life. Wow, maybe this Snowdown wasn't so bad after all._

_Caitlyn reached down to her side and held up the little wrapped box she had brought. "Here, I don't much know what you like, except for complicated machinery and alcohol, so I went with the safer of the two options. I... hope you like it."_

_Vi looked at it skeptically for a second, then accepted it and unwrapped it, then opened the box. Inside was a silver flask, with gold lining and some words etched into it. "To Piltover's favorite Enforcer, and my favorite Officer." Vi read aloud. "Wow... I don't know what to say Cait... I mean Caitlyn. Sorry."_

_Was that... did Caitlyn just blush a little? _

"_Look on the other side, there's something else written on the back."_

_Vi flipped the flask over. "May you never be thirsty in your time of need. Heh, wouldn't want that. Caitlyn, I... thanks."_

"_Oh it's nothing, you must get stuff like this all the time from your other friends. I just hope it's useful."_

"_Well that's the thing Sheriff... not only is this the first real Snowdown present I've ever gotten, this is the first time anyone's ever gotten me a gift without expecting something in return. Wait, you aren't using this as a "you owe me a favor now" sort of thing right?" _

"_No! Of course not, I just wanted to get you a present. To show you that I lik- uhappreciate what you do for the city. Right, the city is very grateful. And so am I. For your help. With everything. Anyway if that's all, I'll be going." _

_Caitlyn quickly stood up and walked to the door, opening it before stepping outside. Before she could leave, Vi grabbed the wrist that was still holding the doorknob. If Vi's stomach was doing flips before, now it was participating in an international gymnastics competition. _

"_Caitlyn... I'm so sorry I didn't get you anything in return but... happy Snowdown." Vi pulled Caitlyn into a hug, feeling the warmth of her body despite the chill of the air rushing into her apartment. _

_Caitlyn held the embrace for a few seconds, and then disengaged and walked down a few steps to the sidewalk. Before she started walking to her car, she stopped with her back still towards the pinkette, who stood in the doorframe with a confuzed look on her face._

"_Happy Snowdown Vi... see you at work tomorrow." With that said, Caitlyn walked over to her car and stepped inside, started the engine, and quickly drove off, leaving a very puzzled and disheartened Enforcer on the steps of her apartment. Was she just imagining what she thought Caitlyn was about to say? But the way she held the embrace... Vi let herself experience a small glimpse of hope. Maybe something could work out between them... someday. But for now, it was back to the old grind. Vi stepped back into her apartment and shut the door. _

_Caitlyn shifted up another gear and drove down the road. She had almost slipped up... how unprofessional. She couldn't' afford to make mistakes like that, she didn't know how Vi felt about her and wasn't willing to risk having her heart broken. She had never felt the way she felt towards Vi with anyone else, but she had heard enough stories of rejections and bad relationships to know that it wasn't worth the risk... wasn't it? The reason she had kept her back towards Vi was because her face was bright red, and she was smiling like she never would never dare in public. Vi had hugged her... maybe something could work out between them... someday. But for now, it was back to the old grind. Caitlyn stepped on the gas pedal and sped into the night. _

* * *

"Vi. Vi. Hey, Vi." Lucian snapped his fingers in front of her face repeatedly. "Viiii..."

Vi snapped back to the present, "Huh? Oh fuck right. Uh, how long till the portal opens?"

"How the hell am I supposed to know that? Ask Kassadin." Lucian turned back around and sat down by the fire he had made, roasting a deer carcass over it.

Vi stood up and, wait when did she sit down? Had she really just been sitting there thinking for that long? Caitlyn tended to do that to her, she realized. She walked over to Kassadin, who still standing a bit away from the portal, just staring at it.

"Hey, void-dude, how long till that thing opens up? I wanna punch something." Vi slammed her hex-tech gauntlets together to emphasize her urge.

Kassadin didn't even bother looking at her. "In an estimated 18 hours. I suggest you eat some of the food the Purifier has caught, and rest up. This will be one of the toughest battles our lives will experience. I can sense it."

"Right... the "toughest battles" I have, tend to end with people's faces complaining about the toughest fists. And by complaining I mean being beaten in. I mean, I figure their faces would be complaining if they could."

Kassadin gave her what she assumed to be a strange look, it was hard to tell with half his face covered in that mask thing. Then he returned to staring at the portal through the cracks in the wood. Could he see into it or something? Vi turned and began walking toward the fire. As she was walking back, she heard Kassadin whisper something.

"Wait... no, NO IT CAN'T BE!" Kassadin yelled. "PREPARE YOURSELVES! THE PORTAL IS OPENING!" he shouted as he powered up his nether blade, and gathered up a sphere of void energy in his other hand.

"_What the fuck? I thought we had like 17 fucking hours left? Well, punch first, ask questions later. Or while punching. Fuck it, time to punch some shit_." Vi charged up her gauntlets, and they began releasing steam and a high-pitched whirring sound as the hex-tech machinery came to life.

Lucian ran into view, holding both his pistols at his sides, a determined look on his face. He was quickly joined by Luxanna, and Nasus with his staff glowing a bright purple. They all took up positions encircling the wooden barrier. The sun was beating down, and Vi felt herself start to sweat. That was when she noticed the strange sound. It was like... screaming, like a hundred thousand voices screaming into the wind. Was that what the Void sounded like? Through the small cracks in the wood, it looked like the portal was swelling.

"Steady yourselves..." said Nasus as he braced his feet.

The screaming noise grew to an incredibly high pitch, and Vi fought the urge to clamp her hands over her ears. Having giant robotic fists sort of limited her dexterity. Right as she thought she wasn't going to be able to take it anymore, the screaming stopped. Glancing around, the Enforcer noticed Lucian helping Lux to her feet. Guess she couldn't take as much as Vi could. Kassadin hadn't moved, and neither had Nasus. But the portal... was it open? It didn't look like anything had changed, the portal was still there but- "_What the fuck was that_." Vi tried to peer into the cracks while still maintaining her distance.

"_What the fuck? Is that an... an eye_? _And a tentacle_?"

"**Clever creatures. Are you willing to take part in an experiment?**" A strange voice echoed through the clearing.

"_What the fuck, what the fucking fuck, is that a giant floating eyeball?!_"

"LUCIAN, BURN THE WOOD NO-" Kassadin was cut short as a enormous blast of purple energy erupted from within the cage of wood, sending the champions and the logs all flying backwards through the air. Vi's head struck the ground hard, and she blacked out.

* * *

**_A/N: I'm really pumped to write this fight scene next chapter. Gonna start tomorrow. Please leave a review if you have the time, they're pretty motivating for me to write more. I was kinda concerned about chapter length, this is about 4500 words, let me know if it's too long. One of my reviewers made me realize I was sort of forcing the VixCait relationship without actually explaining how it happened, so I'm gonna be doing more flashbacks like this to slowly expand on the way they fell in love. Let me know if you like it. I'm a huge fan of feels and fluff. I'll probably write entire chapters of just fluff in between lots of action just because I love it so much. I don't apologize in advance. Also, Behind the Veil of Power just updated! I literally jumped up in down in my chair for a good 5 minutes, it's the best IreliaxSyndra fic ever. Go check it out if you haven't already. Am I allowed to talk about other fics in my AN? Whatever. Oh and obviously the void creature is Vel'Koz, if you haven't guessed. OCTOBER 7TH.  
_**

**_Talos out._ **


	4. Chapter 4

Vi slammed into the ground hard and blacked out for a split second, but quickly recovered and jumped back up onto her feet. As she did this, she witnessed Lucian turn his fall into a backflip, and land on his feet, with both pistols drawn and aimed right at the strange beast. It resembled a giant, purple, floating eyeball, with three smaller eyes on it's forehead, and three large tentacles waving around it. The rest of the creature that was not taken up by the giant eye seemed to be covered in jagged grey armor plates, made of a strange-looking material.

"Ashes and dust!" Lucian yelled as he unleashed a stream of light bursts at the creature, pulling his triggers as fast as his fingers would allow. The shots blended together to create an almost solid stream of light, and the Culling seemed the hit the creature dead on. Lucian's eyes went wide as he saw that it had manifested some sort of glowing purple barrier in front of it by weaving it's tentacles together, and the shots seemed to have no effect.

"**Hmm. 341 bolts of almost pure light, dealing a mixture of physical and magical damage, with a special propensity to harm creatures of an unearthly nature. Fascinating.**" With that, the creature pointed it's tentacles at Lucian, and began unleashing beams of purple energy at him. He dodged and twisted around them, firing his pistols all the while, moving his arms around his body so that at least one gun was always pointed at the beast, unleashing a bolt of light. Vi realized with dismay that she had landed the furthest from the fight, and sprinted towards the battle.

Nasus had already picked himself up, and ran at the creature, twirling his staff and summoning a burst of spirit flame under the ground it was floating on. It simply floated higher, all while blocking Lucian's shots with its barriers, and returning with the fire with void lasers. Nasus held his staff behind him and the tip began to glow with purple light, signifying the charging of his siphoning strike. As he closed on the creature, he summoned the fury of the sands and grew to twice his normal size, his tan skin taking on a dark gray color, like the face of a mountain during a thunderstorm.

"Wither and die, beast!" He yelled as he charged.

Right as he neared the Void being and prepared to strike, it casually turned it's large eye to face him, and blasted him with a massive bolt of plasma fission. The explosion sent Nasus flying backwards at an incredible speed, and he slammed into a particularly sturdy tree on the other side of the clearing.

"_Holy shit..._" Vi stood there, stunned at the beasts power, before she remembered what she was doing and resumed her headlong dash towards it, her gauntlets releasing steam and a loud hiss. She noticed that Nasus wasn't getting back up.

With Lux just now lifting herself off the ground, and Kassadin nowhere to be found, things looked bad for Lucian, now that the creature had it's full attention focused on him. The floating eye stopped firing for a second, as if formulating a plan, and Lucian took the opportunity to rest, covered in sweat from the effort of dodging the beasts lasers. Suddenly, it moved again.

Spinning in a tight circle, it sent a fissure of void energy through the ground at Lucian's feet, and he barely managed to dive to the side as the earth below him erupted with a violet explosion. But the beast was quick, and as Lucian looked down, to his horror, he saw he was standing on another line of energy. The blast erupted, and threw him into the air, where the creature struck Lucian with three point lasers from each of it's tentacles, enveloping him in void lighting. He let out a piercing scream of pure agony and was sent flying through the air, landing a few feet away. He wasn't moving, and his clothes were smoking.

But now, now Vi was close enough for a vault breaker. Holding her right fist behind her and slowing slightly, charging it for maximum thrust, Vi shouted towards the Void creature.

"Hey you big ugly fuck! If I punch you in the eye, will your entire body turn black?!"

She released the built up force in her gauntlet, the momentum propelling her straight at the creature, fist outstretched, with the speed of a bullet train. She braced for the impact, grinning as she imagined the squishy sound the thing would make when it's giant eye exploded. But her fist was met with empty air, and her momentum propelled her past the creature, sending her tumbling and rolling over the ground beyond it.

"_What the fuck? How did it move that fast?!_"

As she pushed herself back up and glanced behind her, her eyes grew wide as she saw what the creature was doing. It had all three of it's tentacles coiled behind it like a scorpions tail, and each was feeding a beam of power into a glowing sphere floating in front of the beast's main eye. The ground near the creature was shaking, and the rocks near it were levitating into the air.

"**Commencing life-form disintegration. I am fond of referring to this ability as my laser cannon death sentence. Die.**"

Vi barely had time to scream a curse and throw up her fists in front of her, engaging her blast shield. She hoped it would be enough. With a roar like a tidal wave, a massive beam of violet energy erupted from the sphere, the creature continuing to feed energy into the ray of void power.

The Enforcer felt the ray slam into her with the power of a thousand suns, and knew there was no way in hell her blast shield was going to be able to protect her for more than a few seconds.

"_Fuck... this is almost too much... but I will. Not. DIE. HERE! I WILL NOT!_"

Vi pumped more energy than she ever had into the fusion generator on her back, and the blast shield held for a few more seconds. How long could the beast keep up such a raw expenditure of power?

Just when the shield started to fail, she felt the pressure lift off of it slightly. A screen of light had formed itself in front of her, refracting much of the beams energy off to the sides. Where it struck the trees, they instantly burst into flames. Through the sweat beginning to drip into her eyes, Vi glanced to her left and saw the Lady of Luminosity, both hands outstretched in front of her and a look of grim determination on her face. She flashed a weak smile towards Vi as she stepped up to stand beside her.

"I can't... hold the shield much longer Vi... we have to do something..."

"Raugh! Fuck this thing, how much fucking longer can it keep this up?! And where the fuck is Kassadin?!"

As if on cue, a hole in reality ripped itself open 10 feet above the void beast, and Kassadin emerged from the other side, a glowing null sphere in one hand and his brightly blazing nether blade pointed straight down towards the creature in the other.

"BACK TO THE VOID WITH YOU DARK-SPAWN!" Kassadin yelled as he unleashed the sphere, and it blasted the creature with a brutal shockwave. The null sphere didn't just damage it though, it briefly cut off the beast's connection to the Void, rendering it unable to maintain the beam or use any of its powers.

Kassadin continued his dive straight down, and all four of the creatures eyes focused on him with what appeared to be shock, and fear. With a mighty cry, the Void Walker plunged his glowing nether blade straight into the creatures main eye, the matter-disintegrating sword sinking deep into it's flesh. The monster shuddered and let out a terrible screech that had never before been heard in this dimension. It started vibrating violently, and began flailing it's tentacles, wildly firing its point lasers at everything around it. Lux took advantage of the creatures distress and swung her wand at it, sending a light binding streaming towards the screaming, shuddering beast. The light struck true, imprisoning the wounded creature in a glowing cylinder of hardened light. It screeched as it struggled to restore its connection to the Void, it was backed into a corner, and like a wounded animal, there was no telling what it might do.

"Now Enforcer! Finish the beast!" Kassadin yelled before he riftwalked again, to dodge more of the creature's point laser blasts.

Vi grinned as she saw the perfect opportunity to perform some assault and battery. If there was every anything that needed to be punched to death, it was this thing. And Vi had the giant, mechanical fists to do it. Laughing, she charged up her gauntlets again, and sprinted straight at the creature with all the speed she could muster. Nearing the wounded beast, she brought her right fist down and up again in a brutal, bone shattering uppercut. The blow smashed into the creature's underside, just as Lux's light binding wore off, launching it into the air. Vi leapt after it, and grabbing it by the strange crest on it's head, prepared to slam it back down into the dirt.

But right at that moment, Kassadin's null sphere wore off. The creature let out a raging shriek of anger, and flew towards the portal, dragging Vi with it.

"_Fuck NO! This thing is not getting away!_"

Vi began bashing the beast repeatedly with her fist while the other one held on tight. Denting blows soon caused cracks in the beast's jagged armor. Vi looked up, and saw they were almost to the portal. A glimmer of light caught her eye, and Vi saw a speeding ball of power flying towards them. The beast was too busy attempting to shake off the pinkette that it didn't notice the light binding, and was wrapped up in it just before it could enter the Void rift. The binding halted the creature in it's tracks, freezing its forward momentum and stopping it in place. Vi's forward momentum, however, was not halted. She flew forward, losing her grip on the creature, and was sucked into the Void.

* * *

For the second time that day, Vi completely lost all connection to her senses. She started to panic, the lack of pain was bad, pain was good, pain meant life. Just as she started to fear that she was dead, her senses came rushing back to her. But it all felt... off, like there was something fundamentally wrong with reality. She felt... cold. Invasive, ethereal cold, a spectral chill that she felt in her soul. The second thing she noticed was it was dark, so dark that it wasn't just the absence of light, it was if light had never existed in the first place. Completely unable to see, she felt her feet on solid ground somehow. At least it felt solid. Then she turned her attention to her ears. That was when she noticed the noise. Or rather, the lack of it. There was no noise at all, no sound of any kind.

"_Alright... this is fucking freaky. But you'll be fine, you're not dead yet. Just have to find a way out._"

Vi was trying her hardest not to lose her mind, the oppressive feeling of something closing in on her was overpowering, and the lack of light and sound made her feel incredibly claustrophobic, even if she had never minded tight spaces before. But this place, it was wrong. She could tell her kind should not exist here, this dimension was complete anathema to life.

All of a sudden, she felt the ground beneath her feet give way. Falling, now she was falling, but now she could see, as a distant un-light burned in the distance of oblivion. She was falling into an abyss, an empty infinity filled with dark smoke and the flicker of forgotten suns. There was noise now, but it was a strange ochone moaning, like an untuned radio.

But there! Suddenly there was something, a presence, in the darkness. Something unimaginably ancient and vast, swooping around her as she screamed but made no sound. The un-god gave off an aura of death, pale and cold as it slowly drew closer, it's circling growing ever tighter. Sheer, inarticulate terror set itself upon the Enforcer's mind, and her blood froze solid and cracked in her veins. Her heart seized, a dead weight in her chest. Then she saw it. It's face was akin to a screaming skull with toothed horns, and the rest of it's body resembled a black, skeletal dragon with decaying, tattered wings. It was titanic, with talons the size of skyscrapers and its eyes were lifeless black orbs of pure negative infinity.

This being was the complete opposite of life. Vi's eyes caught fire, and she screamed silently as her brain ceased comprehending what was happening to her. It felt like the creature was somehow entering her, filling her veins with it's unearthly power and caustic will. Death would have been a mercy at this point. With the last ounce of her considerable willpower, she forced her eyes open, to stare the creature down, and show that she would not go willingly into the cold abyss. And out of the corner of her eye, she saw a line of jarring violet, and witnessed a hole between dimensions rip itself into being below her. Kassadin flew out of the opening, grabbed her by the waist and continued upward, dragging her out of the beasts dark clutches. It roared, the ancient sound of a hundred million black oceans slamming into cliffs made of bone and bodies. It flapped it's massive wings and flew up, opening its titanic jaws to swallow Kassadin whole. With seconds to spare, he slashed his free hand across the Void horizontally, opening another tear, and dove through it right as the un-god's jaws slammed shut.

* * *

"_Ugh... what happened..._" Vi's mind was an aching white mess, she couldn't remember anything, except that she had taken a bruising from something, and that she didn't know where she was.

"_Wwwoooowwww... my head hurts like hell. What the fuck?_"

She realized she was lying down, and sat up, trying to open her eyes at the same time. Except they wouldn't open. She tried to move her hands to feel what was preventing her eyelids from parting, but her arms felt like leaden weights, and she could barely lift them a foot off the ground. In fact, all of her muscles ached. Her entire body felt like it was burned out, like she had run a dozen marathons without a break in between. The parts of her body that didn't ache, were numb, and that was a bad sign. She tried to stand up from her sitting position, but her knees gave way beneath her and she fell back down on the ground.

"_What the fuck happened? Is this a dream? Last thing I remember... I was... fighting a Void beast?_" She couldn't remember anything besides that. She realized her clothes were wet, and she could feel freezing rain beating down on her body. The pinkette was chilled to the bone. Some feeling returned to her hands, and she felt the ground around her. It was soft and muddy, and her de-sensitized fingers grasped strange objects, but she couldn't identify them. She gave up trying to move for a while, and as her headache receded, she attempted to remember just what had happened to her.

"_There was that Void beast... and then a fight, I remember Lucian and Nasus being taken out, and then Lux trapped it, and Kassadin... right Kassadin stabbed its eye, and I charged it... and it moved, and I went... Straight into the rift portal. Oh no._"

Suddenly, her experience in the Void came rushing back to her, images of the horrific dragon filling her thoughts, and she fought the urge to scream as sheer, overwhelming terror infected her mind. In an urge to get somewhere, anywhere, to keep moving, adrenaline flooded her veins and gave her the strength she needed to move her aching limbs. She stumbled to her feet, and wiped her face with the torn sleeve of her left arm, noticing with panic that her gauntlets were gone. Blinking in the sudden, harsh light, she wiped her face again to soak up some of the rain.

And then she saw.

And immediately wished she were blind again.

There were bodies. Bodies everywhere, dozens of them, covering the ground in various states of completeness. Blood soaked the ground thoroughly, and limbs were strewn around the rocky clearing. In the back of her mind she vaguely recognized it as the same clearing she had fought the Void beast in. Some of the corpses were headless, some were armless and legless, some were completely bisected in half, but all of them were shredded and torn in some manner, as if they had been beset by packs of wolves and ripped apart.

Vi held her head in her hands as she stood there, breathing in short gasps, struggling to keep the fragile remains of her sanity in check.

"C-cmon Vi... keep it together... y-you've seen worse... No, NO I FUCKING HAVEN'T! WHAT THE FUCK! WHO DID THIS? WHAT DID THIS? SHOW YOURSELF!"

Vi spun in circles, screaming at the trees encircling the clearing.

"WHATEVER THE FUCK YOU ARE, IF YOU'RE IN THERE, COME OUT BEFORE I FUCKING FIND YOU AND BEAT YOU TO DEATH WITH MY BARE FISTS!'

Nothing moved, and nothing replied but the ravens picking at the corpses. They gave off harsh squawks and fixed the strange woman that interrupted their meal with cautious stares, as they scavenged the bodies of the dead.

After minutes of standing there, and what felt like hours to Vi, she finally gathered herself up and raised her head. In her eyes was a fresh gleam of determination, the will to do whatever had to be done to survive. Living alone on the streets, and as part of a gang, one's survival instincts were sharpened and honed to a considerable degree, and the will to stay alive was something that came easily to her. And not only did she have to keep living for herself, she had to keep living for Caitlyn. She hadn't forgotten her vow to return to her love alive, and when the Enforcer made a promise, especially to herself, she damn well kept it.

Her first rational thought, was that she needed to find out who these people were. Vi was no stranger to death and gore, and only the sheer number of the bodies made her queasy. Swallowing her gag reflex, she studied the bodies nearest her, observing a mix of clothing styles and armor types, mostly rag-tag ensembles of metal plates and leather patches. They were obviously armed for combat, that much was apparent. But their weaponry was non-standard, a mixture of axes, spears, swords, clubs, bludgeoning tools, even some pistols and rifles. They also had a mixture of hairstyles and hair colors, and from what few faces were recognizable, Vi could tell they were not Demacian, or Noxian, or even Freljordian. Given where she knew was, high in the Ironspike mountains, and their apparent lack of any type of uniformity, she made an educated guess. By her observations, she figured them to be a roving tribe of bandits that operated in the mountains. Many citizens of Piltover often heard tales of travelers in these parts being set upon and waylaid by bands of armed thugs, intent on pillaging and killing whoever they found. Her theory was confirmed when she found the crest of one of the bandit tribes on what she assumed was the body of the tribe leader, but it was so badly mauled and torn apart that even gender was indeterminate. Vi stood and stared at the sky, deep in thought.

"_Well, that solves one problem, now I know who these assholes were. But that still doesn't solve the bigger issue. What the fuck did this to them? Nothing mauls bodies like this except for wolves, and there's no way even a large pack could bring down this many armed warriors. And not to mention, the only corpses are those of the bandits. It's like one single thing did this to them all. But what... the Void beast that was here is out of the question, he used lasers and blasts of Void energy that would leave burns, and the only champion I know that creates injuries like this is Warwick. And even that fucker couldn't have taken on this many assholes. Speaking of champions... where the hell are Kassadin and the others? I remember Kassadin rescuing me from the Void and that... thing. But what then? Did they capture the beast?" _She had checked, their bodies did not number among the fallen.

Vi noticed the sky had began to clear up, and through the breaks in the clouds, she could see the sun beginning to move slowly upward in the sky, from the east.

"_But that would mean it's morning... and we fought that thing in the middle of the day. How long has it been, have I been laying here for an entire day?"_

She closed her eyes and took a deep breath to calm her frayed nerves.

_You know what, fuck this. I'm not gonna get answers by standing around here with my thumb up my ass, time to get moving. If I remember that map correctly, the closest city is Piltover. Fucking convenient, for once. Now where the hell are my gauntlets?_"

Looking around, Vi found them, seemingly discarded at the edge of the clearing, looking like they'd simply been tossed on the ground and left there. She picked them up and started to put them on, but realized that she didn't want to make a days hike with them weighing down her arms the entire time. She searched the bodies for something to attach them to, and found a long leather strap a bandit had used as a sling for his rifle. With a knife she found, she cut and tied strips together until she had two leather straps attached to each gauntlet, and she slung them over her back and set out towards what she knew was north, judging by the positioning of the sun.

"_On the road again..._" she sung to herself as she began to walk through the forest.

* * *

After walking for a few hours, Vi emerged from the trees and found herself standing on a cliff top overlooking a vast waterfall. The river plunged hundreds of feet down the sheer face to land in a lake that was easily a mile across.

She took a deep breath of fresh mountain air, and dropped her gauntlets onto the ground, stretching her arms over her head and arching her back. Her clothes had dried off, and her body felt much better, even if her mind was still burning with questions and residual fear from her brief time in the Void. She stood still for a few moments, admiring the view, how the water seemed to float in the air before it started falling to the rocky bottom below. And there, on the horizon, she could see the gleaming towers and stark skyscrapers of Piltover. The sight brought a smile to her bright blue eyes, as she thought of finally being reunited with Caitlyn. Even if she couldn't find the answers she needed, she knew just being with the brunette would be enough to ease her mind and make her feel herself again.

Just as she began to step towards the path that wound down the cliff-side, she heard a rustling in the trees behind her. Quickly slipping on her hextech gauntlets, she faced the wood line and assumed a fighting stance.

"Whoever that is, you better come out right fucking now, or I start punching trees down to find you!"

A voice replied.

"There will be no need for that... I am not hungry... at the moment." The voice was deep and raspy, and Vi instantly recognized it. Warwick. She saw his glowing red eyes before she saw the rest of him, as he emerged from the trees and stood there, staring at her. She didn't relax her stance, there weren't many people she trusted, and Warwick was DEFINITELY not one of them. The wolf-man was just as likely to eat to you as speak to you.

"The Enforcer of Piltover? I thought you were dead... what are you doing here, after all this time?"

"Cut the shit Warwick, did you kill all those bandits?"

"Bandits? Hmm, no, I haven't encountered bandits in these mountains for many weeks. I'm simply here hunting specimens for my... colleagues back in Zaun, and it is fortunate for you that they only requested animals. Otherwise you'd be coming back with me. Willingly or not." The beast-man flexed his claws and grinned, revealing his sharp pointed fangs.

"Come at me shithead, I beat the fuck out of you on the Rift for days and it won't turn out any different here. Now enough of the games, if you didn't butcher that entire warband, then who did? They had claw marks all over their bodies, looked like something ripped them to shreds. And the only one I know who leaves wounds like that, is you. So unless you'd like to be introduced to my fist, I'd start telling the fucking truth."

Warwick laughed, an evil, maniacal sound. He got down on all fours and started circling Vi like a vulture.

"Like I said before, I'm not hungry right now. But I feel my stomach growing empty faster and faster. Now for the last time, I did not slaughter any bandit tribes, in fact I haven't tasted man-flesh in over three weeks. That is the truth, for what reason would I have to lie to you? I'm not afraid of telling you the truth, I don't fear your fists, and what else could you do, report me to your city's corrupt police department?"

Vi snarled in anger at that. "The police force of Piltover isn't corrupt you little shit, Caitlyn makes sure of that. And if we really wanted you taken down, we'd have you fucking bagged and tagged in less than a day. You're a hunter, not prey. You don't know how to run."

Warwick's expression changed, from savage amusement to what looked like surprise.

"You believe your police force isn't corrupt... and that Caitlyn is still the Sheriff of Piltover... you... you really have no idea? Oh this is rich, this is just glorious, too good, too good!" Warwick started laughing again, nearly doubling over with evil mirth.

Vi had a confused look on her face, and she lowered her gauntlets slightly.

"Wha-what do you mean... did something happen yesterday? Did something happen to Caitlyn?"

A large grin asserted itself on Warwick's face as he composed himself. He stood up straight and looked Vi right in the eyes. He looked like he had just had an incredibly cruel thought.

"Enforcer... I answered your question, now it is time you answer one of mine. What year do you believe it to be?"

Vi looked at him dismissively, she had been expecting something much worse.

"What kind of stupid fucking question is that? 23 CLE you fuck, have you really been living in this forest for so long you need to ask me what year it is?"

Warwick's grin reached his eyes, as he once again erupted into a fit of laughter.

"It's... hohooho, it's twenty.. aahhaha, twenty five CLE, HAHAHA!"

Vi froze in shock. 25 CLE? 25? As in two five? As in two fucking years more than she thought it was? Fuck no.

Vi lunged forward and grabbed Warwick by the chestplate of his golden armor, holding her other fist back in preparation to smash his face.

"What did you fucking say?! Tell the truth this time, you lying bastard, before I make a crater in that shitstain you call a head!"

The sudden move, and Vi's threat, calmed Warwick down immediately as her met her furious gaze with a calm stare, or as calm a look as a raging werewolf could make.

"I did not lie. The year is 25 CLE. You disappeared two years ago, on a mission to prevent the Void beast Vel'Koz from emerging into this world. Whom, I might add, seems quite comfortable as a champion of the League. And it gets better. Ooh, it gets so much better. Your city is no longer a bright, shining beacon of progress. The gangs that were forced to hide in the underbelly now freely roam the streets, and the new Sheriff does nothing but take bribes from them."

Vi's eyes went wide with shock as she struggled to comprehend what she was hearing. As much as she didn't want to believe it, she knew it was true. It was why Piltover's skyline looked different, why the clearing was changed, why the trees had grown back after they caught on fire during the fight, and why Kassadin and the others weren't there. It was why Warwick was so surprised to see her. However, the beast-man wasn't done yet. He still had a spirit to break.

"And Enforcer, would you like to know why there is a new Sheriff in town?"

He grinned evilly.

"Because, about a year back, Sheriff Caitlyn was killed in an explosion. She's dead. Haha, she's dead! HRAAHGHAHAH! DEAD! AHHA-UGH!"

Warwick's laughter was cut short as Vi's fist slammed into his face with the power of a freight train, her eyes on fire and her face set in a snarl, like that of a wounded beast that had been backed into a corner. She slammed her gauntlet into his face again, and again, and once more, then picked him up with both hands and threw him off the cliff. He was so surprised at the assault that he didn't have time to react, howling as he fell towards the lake hundreds of feet below, leaving a stream of blood in the air behind him.

Vi simply stood there, not even watching him fall, a hollow look in her eyes, an empty look on her expressionless face. She felt nothing. No emotion at all. Because she simply didn't want to feel, and even if she did, she didn't know **what** to feel.

What were you supposed to feel when your world ended?

* * *

**_A/N: Sorry this one took me so long. Been pretty busy at work, doing a stupid-ass machine gun range. Like I really need to learn how the fire the M240-B for the 25th time. As always, please leave a review and let me know what you think. The description of the Void was heavily inspired by a scene in Dan Abnett's "Ravenor Returned," specifically the scene where Interrogator Carl Thonius is possessed by the daemon-prince, Slyte. And the inspiration for the scene with Vi waking up with bodies everywhere, was Amon Amarth's song "Wrath of the Norsemen." I get a lot of inspiration for this story from my music, the whole idea came to me while I was listening to My Curse by Killswitch Engage. Normally I don't listen to bands like that, I prefer the heavier stuff from the European melo-death scene, like Dark Tranquility, Insomnium, In Flames, and Omnium Gatherum. Don't worry, soon enough we'll all find out what killed all those pesky bandits. Please review, comment, flame, whatever floats that boat. If 2 Chainz can buy an entire new crib just to fuck his bitch in, I'm sure you can leave a hate-filled comment on how much I suck._**

**_Talos out._**


	5. Chapter 5

Rain. Rain without end. A storm had moved in from the east, blowing in from the Guardian's Sea. It was the twelfth straight day of rain, without even a glimpse of sunlight or blue sky in between. And it all perfectly matched Vi's mood. After learning of Caitlyn's death, she had gone into a deep depression. Sadness wasn't a thing she was supposed to feel. She was Vi! The Enforcer of Piltover, the bane of criminals, the punk rocking bitch that didn't take shit from anyone. She told herself she was fine, but her insides felt like a black hole.

She could no longer be surprised, no longer feel happiness at the smallest things, no longer feel anger when someone gave her a nasty glare. She just sat on a barstool with a blank look on her face, cold, empty, and forgotten. Drinking, her favorite way to relieve stress, wasn't even helping. Even after drowning her sorrows in a tide of liquid happiness, she couldn't seem to lift the crushing weight of despair off of her mind. And oh, her mind. It was like a small boat in the middle of a hurricane, being tossed about in the waves and beaten and battered by the wind. Her head was full of what-ifs, and how's, and who's, and just burning questions that she couldn't answer herself. But she didn't feel like doing anything, but sitting at that bar, and drinking.

After wandering down from the clifftop, she had started to aimlessly trek her way towards Piltover. It was a familiar place if anything else, and in the back of her tormented mind she knew it held the answers she was seeking. Warwick couldn't, or wouldn't, tell her anything else. She hadn't found his body at the bottom of falls, and knew it would take more than that to kill the werewolf.

Eventually, after staring at the ground for hours, putting one foot in front of the other, she glanced up and noticed she was in the outskirts of the city. She recognized where she was, and an idea had immediately sprung into her head.

"_Where is that fucking place... I know it's right on this street..._"

Spotting the neon pink sign fizzing in the rain, she had hurried towards it. And thus, she ended up on a barstool, eleven days ago, and hadn't left the area since. There was a hotel nearby, and she was using a combination of what money she had left, and the threat of violence to coerce the hotel manager into letting her stay as long as she wanted.

After such a long time, some of the bar's frequent patrons had begun to give her strange looks, but if she even noticed them, she couldn't bring herself to care. The fact that she didn't even feel like fighting any of them said a lot regarding her state of mind. The bartender had at first attempted to strike up a conversation, but had given up after the first few days. He recognized the look in Vi's blue eyes, and just kept her supplied with a steady flow of alcohol. The pinkette wasn't wearing her traditional ensemble either, simply a light grey hoodie, and a dark blue pair of jeans. She kept the hood up most of the time, she didn't particularly feel like talking to anyone that might recognize her. She didn't feel like doing anything. Such are the difficulties of a mind weighed down with sorrow.

Her gauntlets were currently locked in the hotel room. Normally she wouldn't go anywhere without them, but she couldn't bring herself to care about what might happen if she got into the wrong fight and didn't have them. Subconsciously, she wanted to die. She could never bring herself to end her own life, Vi wouldn't let herself go out like that, without a fight. But who would care if she died? No one, no one had ever cared about her, no one but... but Caitlyn. She was the only reason Vi had kept trying so hard, the only reason Vi had done her best in every case, every investigation, every chase. She had only worked herself so hard, so that one day the Sheriff might notice. Might see that she wasn't just some criminal delinquent who only had insider knowledge of the streets, but someone who cared, someone who could be trusted, who had potential.

Vi had known there were barriers to get over if she ever wanted a shot with the Sheriff, but she had to try. Seeing Caitlyn work herself to the bone every night, shut everyone out and focus on nothing other than her work, made Vi feel so sorry for her. She wanted to show the beautiful brunette that there was more to life than work, that someone out there cared, that someone out there could understand and be there for her. She had recognized that hollow look in Caitlyn's eyes, she had seen it every time she looked in the mirror after she had been abandoned by the gang that had taken her in. Not exactly without a purpose, but without a real reason for living. Sure, someone without a real goal in life would keep moving forward, but that was only because their survival instinct was living for them, to just put food on the table at the end of the day. Some people spent the entirety of their lives searching for a reason to exist, but Vi had found hers already. She lived for Caitlyn, to make her happy, to see that smile on her face and to hear that heart-warming laugh. The Sheriff was her reason for existing, and now, she had none. Nothing to live for, nothing to work towards, nothing at all. The door to the bar could open, a man could walk walk in and shoot her in the head, and she wouldn't care.

And right at the moment that thought was running through her head, the door to the bar did open, and a man did walk in. And as Vi glanced to see who he was, paranoid thoughts running through her afflicted brain, she recognized the last person on the entire planet she wanted to see. Jayce. Defender of Tomorrow. Giant. Fucking. Douche. She turned back towards the bar with a scowl on her face, and quickly went back to acting like just another nobody trying to drink their problems away. Which, she figured, she was anyway.

She grimaced as, of fucking course, Jayce sat down on the barstool next to her. The place wasn't exactly crowded, but it was that time of night where everyone at the tables had left, and anyone who was still there, was at the bar. It wasn't the only open stool, but it was one of three. All the same, Vi cursed her luck, cursed fate, cursed whatever cruel god had decided to inflict such torments on her, cursed pretty much everything in existence.

"I'll have an Iron Lion. Tall, please."

"_God, even his fucking voice pisses me off! He sounds like he's accepting the award for world's giantest douchetackle, and he's trying to sound as heroic and manly as possible. And why him?! The one thing left in existence that could piss me off right now, and here he is right on the barstool next to me. When I get to whatever afterlife there is, I'm gonna have a little discussion with whoever's in charge._"

After accepting the drink and taking a long gulp, Jayce glanced over towards Vi, the man on the other side of him being, well, a man. That automatically crossed him off the list of potential hook-ups. Her hood covered up most of her facial features, but what he could see, told him that she was at least mildly attractive, and he liked nose piercings.

"_Works for me_," he thought to himself. "_Gotta think fast, I need a good line..._" His eyes travelled down to Vi's rear end, which looked amazing in her tight jeans.

"Hey there baby, did you get those pants in space?"

Vi was trying her hardest not to punch him in the mouth. And her composure was failing rapidly.

"Because your ass is out of this worl-"

Vi spun on the stool, grabbed Jayce by his slick hair, and slammed his face into the bar. Judging from the loud crunch, she broke his nose too. He fell off his barstool, and got up with an enraged look on his face.

"You fucking bitch!" He yelled. "I'm gonna... gonna... Vi?" He said with an incredulous look on his face.

The bar had gone silent, and everyone stared at the two of the, some with anger, some with apprehension, and some just ready to watch a good fight. Women and men were equal in Piltover, and it wasn't uncommon to see a man start a fight with a woman, and vice versa.

Vi turned, quickly navigated around the tables in her way and exited the bar without a backwards glance, stepping out into the rain and attempting to leave him behind. But he quickly sprinted out of the bar behind her, slipping in the mud as he tried to catch up to her.

"Vi! Vi wait! We need to talk!"

Vi spun on her heel and glared at him, hands at her sides balled into fists, clearly ready to resume the beatdown she had thankfully been able to stop herself from continuing.

"About what?! About how Caitlyn is fucking dead? And you want to rub it in my face or something you little shit? Cuz I don't want to hear another word out of your fucking mouth!"

Jayce stood in the rain and held a tissue up to his nose, attempting to stop the blood streaming from it.

"No, that's not at all what I want to talk about. Well, kinda. It involves it. But I just want to know where the fuck you've been! Piltover's gone to hell these past few years, Lovegood controls everything, and the gangs basically run the streets! And the one person who I know wouldn't have been able to just sit by and watch it all happen, disappears for two fucking years. So yeah, I'm a little bit curious on just where in the hell you've been."

Vi stared at the ground for a few seconds, then looked back up at him. "Wait, who the hell is Lovegood?"

Jayce stared at her like he was talking to a particularly stupid student, who had just failed a test for the third time in a row.

"You mean... wait you don't even know who Lovegood is? How much of the last two years **do** you remember?"

Vi tried to avoid telling him exactly what had happened, while still finding out what she wanted to know. "Well, I got sucked into a Void rift, long story, and I've literally been out of this entire dimension for the last two years. So yeah, I'm not exactly up to date." She said with venom in her voice.

Jayce's jaw hung open for a bit. But he quickly snapped it shut, shaking his head in disbelief. He looked over his shoulder at another bar further down the road, and pointed at it.

"You, me, the Rusted Gear, now. We've got a lot to discuss."

* * *

Jayce walked over to the table Vi was sitting at with two beers in his hands, and set them down without spilling a drop. They were sitting at a quiet table in a dark corner, and it was helpful that the bar was mostly empty anyway. The night was winding down. Vi simply sipped her beer and stared straight ahead. Jayce didn't say anything either. After a few minutes of awkward silence, Vi finally made eye contact with the scientist/engineer/playboy/warrior/douche.

"So, you never answered my question. Who is Lovegood?"

"And you never apologized for breaking my nose." Jayce said with raised eyebrows.

"And I'm not going to. You fucking deserved it. My ass is out of this world? Seriously? Who goes for that?"

Jayce laughed and set his beer on the table, cracking his neck. "You'd be surprised. And I figured I would try my luck. I've never heard you apologize to anyone, not even Caitlyn."

"This time you'd be surprised, but you don't get to know what went on between us. That was, and always will be, none of your fucking business." Vi finished with a glare.

Jayce took another sip of his beer, then set it down and leaned back in his chair. Folding his arms behind his head, he let out a long sigh.

"It's been a damn long while, hasn't it Vi? So much has happened. What about you? Does it feel like you've been gone for two years?"

"Honestly, nope. It feels like I left Piltover two weeks ago." "_Like I just saw Caitlyn two weeks ago._" She thought to herself.

"Well, this story ain't gonna tell itself Figure I'll start from the beginning." He cracked his knuckles. "After you disappeared, Caitlyn went on a manhunt. She searched everywhere for you, had every member on the force looking. She went to the Institute, tried to force them to tell her what happened, but they wouldn't. All they told her was that you had vanished, and that they were "working" to find you. Lot of good it turned out to do. Fucking liars. Anyway, Caitlyn never gave up. She kept searching, even traveled to other cities and met other champions to see if they had any idea of what might have happened to you."

Vi's heart ached as she heard how Caitlyn searched for her. She already felt guilty at causing so much pain to her beloved, and now she was practically drowning in it. She tried not to imagine how Caitlyn must have felt. She knew it was probably the same way she felt now. Tears started to well up in her eyes, but she forced them back down. There was only one person she would cry in front of, and it one-hundred-percent-fucking-certainly was not the Douche of Tomorrow.

"The only problem was, while she was searching for you, she couldn't give Piltover the attention it needed. Ezrael had gone off on some expedition, and the donger couldn't be bothered to come out of his laboratory. That left me, the dwindling police force, and whatever time Caitlyn could devote to trying to keep her city under control. The undercity knew it too, the gangs started to get bolder, they started not giving a fuck if the cops saw them or not. They knew Caitlyn couldn't be everywhere at once, and they started working together, planning multiple operations at the same time, using decoys and baits to draw the police's attention while they carried out arms deals and robbed high-profile banks. They couldn't do this on their own, someone was behind it all, getting the gangs and mob bosses to work together. We never found out who, but I have a hunch."

He took another drink of his now half-empty beer, and continued. Vi simply sat and listened.

"Anyway, things just got worse and worse from there. And oh, you should have seen Caitlyn. After you disappeared... she just never recovered. She turned cold, I mean colder than usual, started shooting criminals instead of taking them in. She refused to take a break from work, and she probably didn't get much, if any, sleep. She always had black circles under her eyes, and a lot of times I would see her, her eyes were red, as if she were crying a lot while no one could see. I... I'm sorry Vi. For what's worth. This can't be easy to hear."

Vi simply nodded and stared at him, even while her heart died on the inside. She knew she would never be able to forgive herself for what she had done to Caitlyn, inadvertently or not. She mentally thanked Jayce for being gentle about it.

"_Is it just the alcohol, or is he not so much of a fucking assbag?_"

"After about a year of all this, that was when... when Caitlyn was killed. The police got a tip from a reliable source that the Museum of Hextech was going to be robbed soon, and Caitlyn took it as the truth. Turns out the source was already dead, they were just using his credentials to call in the tip. Anyway, police set up, bad guys move in, grab the goods, and the police grab them. Masks come off the bad guys, turns out they were innocent civilians whose family's were being held hostage. What kind of sick fuck does that? Sorry, anyway, just as they pull the bags off their heads and call it in, Caitlyn goes inside to confirm. And then, boom. Whole building explodes.

Vi's heart stopped. Even though she knew Caitlyn was already dead, it hurt to hear about it. At least it was quick.

"Forensics revealed the bombs were planted an entire week earlier, meaning they had been planning this for a while. We only found a few bodies, all unidentifiable. The blast was so big that it pretty much vaporized everything inside. From there, the whole city erupted. Caitlyn was really the last pin holding the whole machine together. Civilians started calling for a new Sheriff, the police were paralyzed, the government dragged ass like usual, and in the meantime, the gangs moved in and took over everything. It was havoc for a while, no one could do anything in the city for fear of getting mugged, raped, robbed, or shot. Criminals did what they wanted, where they wanted. Police couldn't even begin to stop them. I did what I could, but it wasn't much."

"_Is Jayce being... humble? Wow, it really has been two years._"

"After about a month of this total anarchy, a new Sheriff is elected in a landslide vote, guy by the name of Killian Lovegood. This guy came out of nowhere. Officially, he's been on the force for a good fifteen years, doing slightly better than average, not enough to get noticed, but better than your regular badge-wielding idiot. No offence."

"None taken." Vi took another drink and grimaced. "Not good, I'm starting to taste it again. Wanna grab another round?"

Jayce shrugged. "Honestly, it's probably better if you're sober for all this. It's a lot to take in. So anyway, this guy got elected because there weren't a lot of great choices, and Lovegood is the only one apparently doing anything at all. All the other candidates for Sheriff started failing the operations they were sent on, strange happenings and weird occurrences. You remember Beauregard? He was a candidate. Anyway, he goes to investigate a 187, and instead of a body, he finds a dummy that's been booby trapped. Blew up in his face, he's still in the hospital. Probably gonna retire from the force. This kind of shit happens to every candidate, except for Lovegood. So after he wins, I get a little suspicious, and go digging in the old pen and paper records, down in the basement. I'm sure you remember it."

Vi sure did, she and Caitlyn used to spend some... quality time there when they weren't able to get off work for long periods of time.

"After searching for almost three straight days, I give up. This guy isn't in the old system at all. According to the new electronic records, he's been on for fifteen years. But the old records stopped seven years ago. And according to them, he doesn't exist. Weird huh? Not only that, but the man's as fucking crooked as a two-dollar bill. Soon as he steps up, crime just drops. The gangs go back to their hiding holes, and things go back to normal, for better or for worse. But the problem now, is that the crime is all still there. The cops just aren't doing anything about it. Drug running, arms deals, kidnapping, extortion, all this crap gets called in, and the police look the other way. They show their faces at some big events, bust the random murderer who kills his ex-wife, and make it look like everything's under control. But they're getting paid some good money to ignore the big stuff when the mob wants business done. Now I can't actually pin anything to Lovegood, the man's like a ghost in the system. Sometimes I can use my contacts and trace the money from these deals up into the force itself, but it disappears before it ever gets to him. Nothing solid."

"_Since when does Jayce have contacts? Who the fuck is this guy, and what did he do with the old fuckface?_" Vi thought to herself with a placid look on her face.

"So that's basically what's been going down. As to the current state of affairs, the city's pretty quiet. Heimer locks himself up in his lab and does his... whatever he does. Ezrael is pretty much a permanent guest at the League, Ziggs hasn't been seen in the city for years, thankfully, and Corki and Orianna are never here anymore. It's pretty much just me. I try to do what I can, but at the end of the day, I'm not a cop. I can't get at the inside while I'm stuck on the out." Jayce folded his arms behind his head and yawned.

Vi nodded her head, thinking over everything she had just heard.

"Oh, and one more thing. The city hasn't been as quiet lately, some guy called Archangel is stirring things up. No one knows anything about him, he shows up to crimes that the police would normally ignore, kills everyone there, and disappears before the cops can show up. And of course, they say they were already on their way. Pfft. From what few eyewitness reports there are, mostly from the people he saves, he always wears a grey cloak that obscures his features and helps him blend in, and uses a mix of a high-powered sniper rifle, a pistol, and pretty fucking extensive hand to hand techniques, if the reports can be believed. Like, I'm talking multiple forms of martial arts. This one old Ionian jiujitsu teacher he saved, said he was using a mix of Noxian, Demacian, Ionian styles, and even some Norse shit from the Freljord. Oh, and he's got a grappling hook. Uses it to navigate the city and disappear into the urban jungle. But other than that, the city's pretty quiet. On the outside. On the inside, murders, robberies, kidnappings, all of it's through the roof. Just nobody reports it, and the police don't care."

Vi cracked her knuckles and stared Jayce dead in the eyes. No fucking way her city was going to be run by criminals. Caitlyn had devoted her entire life to keeping the city safe, and if there was any way to honor her memory, it was to kill every last fucking law-breaking asshat in the city. It was what she would have wanted.

"You know Jayce, I've never liked quiet. What do ya say we make some noise?"

Jayce grinned and leaned forward.

"I thought you'd never ask."

* * *

_**A/N: Yeah this one's a little on the short side. Figure the amount of content makes up for it. Lot of story in this chapter. Have no fear, Jayce and Vi will soon be smashing heads, and generally causing trouble throughout the city. Leave a review if you feel so inclined, and may the force be with you all.** _


	6. Chapter 6

"Fuck yeah! Vi is back in town bitch!" The Enforcer slammed into the group of armed thugs, left fist held in front of her to clear the way, right fist held back and charging, to deliver a bone-shattering uppercut to the group's leader. She and Jayce were in a large open park, at about 3 A.M., and they were interrupting a very important weapons deal.

Shoving a particularly intimidating bald man out of the way, she spotted the criminal in charge of the gang. He was holding an assault rifle, wearing a black suit, and a very surprised expression. It was quickly wiped off his face, as was his face, when Vi's gauntlet slammed into it from below with the force of a semi-truck.

She launched herself into the air with him, and at the same time, Jayce brought his hammer down in the middle of the group with a power slam. The move created a massive shockwave, flinging criminals in every direction. The leader of the group, and Vi both lost their upward momentum, and Vi grabbed his head with one fist, and used the other to power herself back down to the ground, slamming his head into the sidewalk of the path with a satisfying crunch. Judging from the blood and lack of movement, he wouldn't get getting up anytime soon. Or ever.

The other thugs started to pick themselves up, in a rough circle around them , and Vi and Jayce locked eyes, looked down at a manhole cover, and then back at eachother. Jayce nodded, and Vi grinned, slamming her fist into the ground near the metal disk, sending it flying into the air. Jayce caught it in mid-air with his magnetic hammer, and held it out in front of him, levitating it. Then, he spun in a circle as his hammer accelerated the iron disk, slamming it into every one of the criminals around them. Only one managed to duck, and as he looked up from the ground, panic in his eyes, he saw Vi slide under the disk as well, and then slide her fist into his face. Brutally. He didn't see much after that.

Vi took a heavy breath and looked around, scanning the area. A few of the gang members were moaning and writhing on the ground, but a lot of them were twisted at weird angles. The manhole cover had broken most of their necks. Vi walked over to the nearest one that appeared to still be in one piece, and flipped him over with her boot, planting her other foot on his neck and pressing down. Jayce stepped up beside her and grinned.

"Well, what do you want to do with them? It's your town after all. We could just kill them. None of these scum deserve to live."

Vi tapped her chin thoughtfully, while the man she was standing on stared up at her in terror. She suddenly felt the dark urge to crush his windpipe slowly, to watch him die trying in vain to scream, and relish the suffering. She wanted to end these men slowly. But, normally her thoughts weren't this dark. It felt like something else was in her mind, influencing her and telling her these men deserved horrific and bloody deaths. She shook her head to get her thoughts straight. Well, normally she wouldn't be so eager to kill a man who was already down, but just the sight of these scumbags conducting their business in the open, without a care in the world, set her blood to boil. This was Caitlyn's city, this was **her** city, and she would be damned before she let them have free reign of it.

"_Yeah, that's it, that's why I wanted to kill them. And I need to send a message. I'm just angry, that's all._"

Vi finally spoke. "True, but it is my first night back. And I wanna send a message. But, we really only need this one alive to do it."

Jayce nodded and turned around, walking over to the surviving men in turn, and executing them with blasts of his mercury cannon.

The Enforcer stared down at the man under her boot.

"Alright you little bitch, here's what you're gonna do. You're gonna run along home, to whatever scumbag you call "daddy," and you're gonna tell him Vi is back in town. And she's not making deals, she's not accepting terms, and she's not backing down. She is going to personally, crush the skull, of every last fucking assbag piece of criminal shit, in this entire city. Much like I'm crushing your neck right now." She smiled evilly as she pressed down harder, the man choking and wheezing. "Got it?"

The man nodded his head up and down as fast as he could, struggling for breath.

Satisfied that he would tell everyone he knew of what had just happened to his friends, Vi lifted her boot and rested her gauntlets on her hips. The man scrabbled backwards, and turned and rose in one panicked movement, sprinting as fast as he could into the trees surrounding the clearing. Vi watched him go with a smug grin on her face.

Jayce stepped beside her and watched the man run like Nocturne was on his trail.

"So, what's next? I'm assuming you have a plan?"

Vi looked at him with a puzzled expression. "Plan? I don't need a plan. I'm just gonna go around the city, busting up every gang I see and killing whoever tries to stop me. I mean, that sounds like a plan to me."

Jayce facepalmed, and sighed heavily. "Vi, you need more of a plan than that. You do that, and the gangs are just gonna meet together and come at you all at once, and as tough as you are, you don't stand a chance against them if they work together. We're going to have to take them apart one by one, find ways to pit them against eachother, stuff like that. Use your head."

Vi scoffed at him. "Jayce, you know me, and I haven't changed. If I use my head, it's gonna be to slam it into theirs." Vi grinned. "I've always had a thick skull, ya know?" She started to walk away.

Jayce caught her arm as she passed him, and spun her to face him.

She snarled and glared at him, but didn't punch him. Yet.

"Vi, this is serious. More than you think it is. This is different from how it was with you and Caitlyn, you're not on the right side of the law anymore. You don't have the resources you used to be able to call on, you can't just roam around the city looking for a fight. Piltover is different now, if you go looking for trouble here, it'll find you, and it'll chew you up and spit you back out. And that's if Lovegood is honest. If he really is as corrupt as I think he is, and the gangs want you off their backs, he'll have the entire police department, hell the entire city after you. Have you ever been hunted by an entire city Vi?"

Vi turned away from him, reached inside one of her coat pockets and produced a cigarette and lighter. Placing the cigarette in her mouth, she cupped her hands and lit it, shook the lighter, and placed it back into her high-collared pink jacket. She took a long drag, and held it in for a bit. Jayce stood and stared at her, an impatient expression on his handsome face. After exhaling the smoke, she spoke.

"As a matter of fact, I have Jayce. I used to be one of these criminals, remember? So if anything, it's back to the way things used to be for me. Just me, looking out for myself, holding my own against anyone that wants a piece. I've lived and fought on my own before, and I can do it again. And if you're gonna try and impose some bullshit rules on me like Caitlyn used to, you'll find I'm a lot less accepting of them than the ones the Sheriff gave me. So, thanks for the help pretty boy, but with all due respect." She finally looked at him, a wicked grin on her face. It was the look she got when she was utterly confident in her ability to beat the hell out of whatever might come her way.

"Fuck off."

Jayce scoffed, as if he couldn't believe someone would talk to him like that. There, that was the old douche he used to be. "Fine, that's what you want me to do, that's what I'll do. Have fun taking on Piltover by yourself, because the Defender of Tomorrow sure isn't gonna be helping. If you get captured or something, just scream loudly. I might come help. Or not."

With that said, Jayce slung his hammer over his shoulder and walked briskly out of the park, without a second glance backwards.

Vi simply stared into the sky, and took a last drag of her cigarette before dropping the heel onto the ground and stamping it with her boot.

"_Not like this is the first time I've had to fend for myself. I've done it before, I can do it again._"

Piltover's Enforcer walked into the trees surrounding the park, and vanished into the night.

* * *

The man who Vi had placed her boot upon, whose name was Lyon, coincidentally, shivered as he walked briskly down a long, poorly lit hallway. The mansion it was a part of was exquisitely decorated, the walls were made of expensive panelled wood, and velvet carpet covered the floor. There were luxurious sofas spread through the hall, the walls were decorated with large paintings of bearded, dignified men, and regal looking ladies in their finery. The overhanging light fixtures were made of diamond and gold, even if the light they cast was purposefully kept low and dim. All in all, it was part of a house fit for a king. Or, a king of thieves.

As Lyon reached the end of the hall, he was met with two huge men, with black suits and bored expressions, standing in front of a large bronze door. The door was engraved with images of lions in various poses. He stopped in front of it and glanced around, wiping at the sweat on his forehead with his sleeve. He felt his neck, it was still bruised. One of the guards put his hand up to his ear, like he was talking to someone on a private communicator, and nodded. He looked straight at Lyon and grunted.

"You. Prometheus will see you now."

Lyon's skin took on a pale, white, hue and he gulped as he tried to slow his rapid heartrate.

"Y-yes, of course. Thank you gentlemen."

The men stepped to the sides of the door and opened it with one arm each, pulling the heavy metal with no visible effort at all.

Lyon hesitated for a few seconds, then quickly stepped inside. He winced as he heard the doors slam shut behind him. He looked around the room he found himself in, and found mostly darkness. From what he could see, the room was quite large, but the only light was coming from a blazing fireplace in the wall directly opposite him. The fire was in turn partially obscured by a large desk, and standing behind it, facing the fire, was the silhouette of a man, with his back towards Lyon.

The shadowy man spoke, with a deep voice, and a heavy accent reminiscent of somewhere far to the south of Valoran, possibly as deep as the Plague Jungles of Kumungu.

"Ah, Mr. Gerald Lyon is it? Please, please come in. Have a seat."

The mysterious man known only as Prometheus gestured towards the two chairs in front of the desk. He himself was still staring into the fire. Lyon quickly did as he was told and seated himself.

"So, I do not believe in formalities when it comes to matters such as this, so straight to business we go. My associates tell me you had quite the experience last night, a chance encounter, shall we say, with someone who has been missing for two years. Someone who could very well ruin my meticulous plans for this city. Would you mind telling me, your side of the story?" Prometheus chuckled as he said this.

Lyon loosened his shirt collar a little, and winced as he accidentally put pressure on his bruised neck. He quickly began talking when Prometheus stiffened his neck impatiently.

"W-well, Sir, I can call ya Sir right?"

The man with his back to him simply nodded.

"Well anyway, me and the boys were doing a regular deal in Traeson Park, like we do almost every month when the Dola Gang needs more guns. So everythings lookin' fine, no trouble, the deal is going smoothly like always, cuz the police have already been warned to steer clear of tha place. Well right as we're closin' tha deal and givin' em the guns, I think I spy a flash of pink in one of the bushes out near the line a' trees. So I start to warn the boss, and this crazy bitch with a pink mohawk, and giant metal fists sprints out of the trees right into the middle of us all. We were all so stunned, none of us knew what to do right away. She tosses us all aside, goes straight for the boss, and uppercuts him so hard e' flies up into tha air. By then I had gotten to ma senses, and I was about to put the bitch down with ma rifle. Just then, that Jayce fellow, uh, defender of whatever it is, slams into the middle of me and the boys with his hammer. I hit a tree pretty hard with ma head, and it sort of uh, knocked me out. So I come to when this pink bitch has her boot on me fucking throat, and she tells the guy with the hammer that she only needs one of us alive. And he just puts the rest of my friends down with his hammer, I guess it can turn into a gun too. Cold as you please. She looks at me, and she tells me I need to go back to ma boss, and tell him that she's comin' for everyone, every criminal in the city. I woulda' laughed, but I was kinda tryin to breath too. So she lets me go, and I go tell Delfeer, and he sends me to you. I swear that was how it happened sir. On my life."

Prometheus hadn't moved the entire time. He finally nodded his head slowly, as if to confirm something.

"So, Vi, the old Enforcer, is somehow back from the dead, and is coming for us. Not just me, or my men, but my entire criminal organization. Hah. It's almost laughable. I'll have to do something about that. After all, how am I supposed to use this city as the base of my criminal empire that spans all the way to the Institute of War, if I have to deal with a crazed woman with giant fists smashing everything in sight? Mmm, no, that just won't do."

Lyon looked at Prometheus' back with apprehension. "Uh... Sir, shouldn't you, ya know, not be saying this kind of stuff around me? I'm not the smartest cat, but I know important stuff when I hear it, and that sounds like somethin' not meant for my ears... Sir."

"Oh, I'm not worried. You see, you won't be leaving this room alive. How's your neck by the way?"

"Oh it's fine Sir, I... wait, wha-"

Prometheus spun, and in one smooth movement, withdrew a large silver revolver from the inside of his coat, and shot Lyon in the neck. The large caliber round blew straight out the back of the man's body, and a mist of blood hung in the air behind it. The force of the round blew Lyon, and the chair he was in back a few feet, and Lyon grasped at his neck and tried to hold the gaping hole together, his eyes wide and dilated with terror. He tried to cry out, but he could only produce strange gurgles. After a few seconds, his struggles grew weak, and then ceased entirely as he slumped over and the life left his eyes. A steady river of blood flowed out of the large hole in his neck.

Prometheus admired his handiwork with a chuckle and placed the revolver on the desk. Then he noticed the mess Lyon was making. "Tch, he's bleeding all over my carpet. Seems it'll have to be replaced." He reached up to his ear and activated his implanted communicator.

"Tanya? Contact the leaders of all of the gangs still here in Piltover, and tell them to be in my office in precisely eight hours and thirty-three minutes. Oh, and have the staff come in here. Cleanup duty again."

Without waiting for a response, he sat down at his desk and stared into the darkness that made up the rest of the room.

"So you can take on a dozen men at a time. Let's see how you fare against a few hundred," He said to no one in particular.

A little voice sounded in his ear. "Sir? It appears there's a problem."

"Hmm? What is it?" He slouched his shoulders in resignation.

"The team of men you sent to clean up the Traeson Park incident? We've lost contact."

He growled and slammed his fist down onto the desk, sending the papers on it flying around the room.

* * *

Traeson Park was filled with trees, one of the few spots in the city that still had vegetation. They were Oak trees, of many varieties. Live oak, Cherrybark, Cow, Overcup, Water, and even some Willow Oak trees. Their branches were many and thick, with not too much foliage cover on the limbs. The perfect type of trees for a sniper to use as a vantage point.

Even if the three men loading up the bodies of the dead gangsters into a large white truck had looked, they wouldn't have noticed anything out of the ordinary in the treeline. If they had higher-quality gear, such as thermal scopes, they might have noticed the heat signature of a single person high up in a tree roughly two hundred feet from them, on the other side of the clearing. There was a path through the clearing, lined with street lamps that cast a ruddy glow in the otherwise dark, overcast night.

One of them men finished tossing a body into the moving truck, and turned to the driver of the vehicle, who was leaning on the door of the driver's side, enjoying a smoke.

"Hey Davis, why don't you quit fucking smoking those cancer sticks and help us out? We've still got like five bodies left, and you haven't loaded a single fucking one! Just because you're the driver doesn't mean you get to scam out."

Davis laughed as he blew smoke out of his mouth. "I'll do what I damn well please Brown, and if you want this truck to make it to the docks in one piece, you'll quit fucking blabbing about what I do in my spare time."

"Ey!" The last man shouted to them while struggling with a particularly heavy body. "Are you sure we're supposed to be takin' these bodies to the docks? I thought we was supposed to drop 'em at Warehouse 34."

Davis scoffed. "What the fuck are you going on about Jeffers? I'm pretty sure they said the docks. Ah, fuck it, I'll doublecheck to make sure. Can't be too safe working for this lot."

Davis unclipped his walkie-talkie from the back of his pants and brought it up to his face, then pressed his thumb down on the "transmit" button.

"Nest, this is Bull 1. Come in, over."

He was met with buzzing static.

"Nest, Bull 1, over."

Nothing but static again.

"What the fuck is wrong with this bloody thing? When I can't get a signal it just beeps loudly, I ain't even heard this loud static shit before." He thumbed the button again. "Nest, Bull 1, over."

After a few seconds of the same static, Jeffers spoke up. "Maybe... maybe we's being jammed or sumfin?"

Davis laughed in his face. "Now why in all hell would we be being jammed? By what? Who the hell in this city can even afford one of those fancy devices? They're not fucking cheap you know. I really doubt some bloke would be out at this time of night fucking around with a bloody jamming device, just to-"

He never finished his sentence, as there was a loud crack, and his head suddenly exploded and sprayed his brains all over the driver side door. His body pitched backwards, falling back against the truck.

In the tree, Caitlyn racked the bolt of her rifle, chambering another round, her breathing slow and controlled as she pressed her eye back to the scope.

"HOLY FUCK, JEFFERS GET THE FUCK IN THE TRUCK NOW!" Brown yelled, as he scrabbled to open the door to the vehicle. Unfortunately for him, the handle was covered in Davis' blood, and he couldn't get a grip on it to force it open. He whipped his head around and stared in terror at the treeline, right as there was a second crack, and a round slammed into his face, painting the truck with a second coat of blood.

Caitlyn racked the bolt again, chambering a third round. Controlled breathing. Proper sight to eye relief. No scope shadow. Her finger slowly applied pressure to the trigger.

"Fuck this!" Jeffers abandoned his efforts to climb into the back of the truck when he heard the second shot, and sprinted towards the nearby trees. He reached them, and ran faster than he ever had before in his entire life. Right as he began to think he might be safe, that there were too many trees between him and whoever was shooting, there was a third crack, and a bullet entered and exited his left knee. With an agonized scream, he fell, rolling and tumbling until his head smacked into a tree and he blacked out.

He slowly came to, feeling something cold pressed against his forehead. He felt that he was on his back, the grass cool against his exposed skin. As he snapped open his eyes, he realized with fear that the object on his forehead was a long, black, silencer, attached to a pistol. He forced his eyes up, looking at the owner of the handgun in terror. They were kneeling over his prone form. He couldn't tell who it was, as they were wearing a grey cloak that covered their body, complete with a hood that hid their face in shadows.

"P-please," he whispered, his voice escaping him, as he tried to prop himself up on his elbows. "I-I'll tell you whatever you want."

The voice that came from the hood was surprisingly female, with a clipped and posh accent.

"What happened to these men? Who killed them?"

"I swear I don't know! We were just told the location, and where to dump the bodies! They don't tell us anything but that! I promise!"

Caitlyn inwardly sighed. This was the problem with dealing with such low-level criminals.

"I believe you." She said, and pulled the trigger.

The pistol produced a quiet popping noise, due to the silencer, and blood sprayed out of the exit wound in the man's head. His elbows gave out, and his upper body dropped to the ground, lifeless.

Caitlyn stood up and picked up the shell casing, as she had already done with the two rounds she had fired from her rifle earlier. A good sniper never leaves anything behind. She started walking back towards the clearing.

She stepped up to one of the bodies that hadn't been loaded up into the truck yet, and knelt down by it to examine it. The man looked like he had been killed by something that had impacted his neck, as it was most certainly broken.

"_But what broke his neck? This is a peculiar bruise, most likely caused by a heavy metal pole, or something similar,_" She thought to herself.

Looking around, she spied the manhole cover lying on the ground a dozen feet away. Stepping over to it and picking it up, then comparing it to the bruise on the man's neck, she determined that it had caused his death. After examining each body in turn, even the ones from the truck, she had determined that most had been killed by the impact of the manhole cover, and a few had burn marks on their chests consistent with Jayce's Mercury Cannon. She knew he was still active in the city, but what reason would he have to openly attack a gang like this? She continued her investigation.

After using her handheld scanner on the manhole cover, she detected a strong magnetic charge still present in it.

"_So that explains how all these men were killed with this one steel disk, Jayce most likely used his hammer to levitate it, and swung it into their necks. But he wouldn't be able to just walk into the middle of them all and do that, something else had to have stunned them. Ah, I should look for an impact on the ground consistent with his power slam._"

After examining the ground, she found a large crack in the pavement, with a residual energy signature that matched the power exerted from his Mercury Hammer.

"_Ah, that solves that. But, is that another impact mark?_" The ex-Sheriff asked herself with a glimmer of confusion in her eyes.

Caitlyn walked over towards the second impact she had spotted, which was right next to the exposed hole the manhole used to cover. She studied it closely.

"_This looks like... the impact left by one of... Vi's gauntlets? No, it can't be._"

Closely examining it again and again, she was forced to admit it was eerily similar to the impact that Vi's signature Hex-tech fists left upon either the ground or a wall. Four, large circular marks, heavy fracture of the impact area, and a deep indenture at the center of the applied force.

"_But... is someone using Vi's gauntlets? Did someone find her? Or did someone just create a replica of her gauntlets? I don't know anyone that could do that, she was a genius when it came to Hex-tech machinery. Only Jayce might be able to replicate such a thing, and he was adamant he would never stoop to such, "brute force methods._"

Caitlyn's mind was swimming with questions, and she felt a pang in her chest as memories of Vi resurfaced in the dark ocean of her memory.

"_No, there has to be another explanation. There's __**always**__ another explanation. I just have to find it."_

There was only one body she hadn't examined yet, and judging by his expensive clothes and extensive tattoos, he was the leader of the group. His body art clearly marked him out as Dola Gang. Caitlyn knelt down by the body, and gasped in shock. She pulled her hood down from her face, to get a better look at what she knew to be impossible.

"_The... the same impact wound is on his chin, and then on the back of his forehead... Vi's assault and battery... even if Jayce or someone else could recreate her gauntlets, they would never be able to replicate that move. Only Vi is brazen enough to attempt a leaping uppercut in the middle of a group of armed men. Could she be... alive?_"

Caitlyn was filled with confusion, and tried hard not to think about the Enforcer. It didn't help her at all to cry during an investigation. But no matter how hard she tried to not let her mind wander, back to the girl with the pink hair that she loved so much, it ended up straying there anyway.

"_But... no it can't be. She wouldn't leave for two entire years and not contact me with even a letter. She wouldn't... would she? But..._"

Despite her best efforts, tears started to form in the brunette's eyes. They somehow snapped her back to reality. She quickly gathered her gear and stood up, forcing thoughts of Vi from her head with all her willpower, and headed towards the treeline, leaving the bodies on the ground.

"_I will find whoever did this. And if they're using Vi's gauntlets, I will kill them._"

Piltover's cloaked ex-Sheriff walked into the trees surrounding the park, and vanished into the night.

* * *

"P-please, we'll give you whatever you want! We don't have much money but, here just take it!"

A man in a dark grey suit shakily fished his wallet from out of his back pocket and tossed it on the ground, in front of a man wielding a knife. The man with the suit was holding his wife and his daughter behind him, as he sought to protect them from the mugger who had ambushed them in an alleyway. They were on their way back from a night at the movie theatre, and their house was only a few blocks away. But such was the state of Piltover, that no where was safe anymore. Criminals basically had free reign of the city.

The man with the knife, wearing a brown trench coat and sporting a matching fedora, moved forward and picked up the wallet. He opened it and pulled out what was in the cash pocket. Counting it carefully, he looked up with a wicked grin on his face.

"Ooh, looks like you're a bit short of my regular rate. You're gonna have to... supplement, with something else," he said while glancing hungrily at the man's wife. She shrunk back in fear.

The man in the suit looked at his wife, then back at the mugger. "No, anything b-but that, uh, here you can have my watch too! It'll fetch a high price!"

The mugger chuckled, his mind set on a far worse deed than a robbing. "Here's the thing friend, I don't take anything but cold, hard, cash. Unless you've got a hundred more dollars in those pockets of yours, I'm afraid I'm going to have to help myself to your lovely wife."

A harsh voice sounded behind him.

"How 'bout you just help yourself to this?"

The mugger whirled, just in time to have his vision filled with a giant mechanical fist. Which then continued on it's path forward, slamming into his face and sending him flying down the alleyway. He crashed into a pile of trash bags stacked on one side, and didn't get up.

"Boom baby! Man, I never get tired of doing that to people. You folks okay?" Vi asked.

The man with the grey suit continued to hold his family behind him as he looked upon the Enforcer with fear in his eyes.

"Y-you're not going to hurt us? We can go?"

Vi looked at him with confusion "Of course you can go, but don't you want to get your money back first?"

The man shook his head. "No no, we're fine, thanks!" With that, he grabbed his family and rushed out of the alleyway, and the three of them ran down the street. The little girl smiled at Vi as she ran past.

Vi watched them go with a grin on her face. She realized she might not be the friendliest looking person in the city, what with the giant metal fists and all, but smiles like that little girl's made it all worth it.

She stepped out of the alley and strolled down the sidewalk. The skyscrapers of Piltover towered over her and cast the street into shadow, or would have, if it wasn't for the street lights and bright flashy signs advertising all manner of goods. She loved the city at night, it felt so electric and alive. She knew she should feel tired, it had been a whole day since her ambush in the park, and she hadn't slept since. But she didn't feel drowsy in the least. The adrenaline she got from walking in a city that was out for her blood kept her mind awake and racing.

As she walked, she attracted cautious stares and angry looks from the other pedestrians. She simply folded her arms behind her head and ignored all the glares.

"_Wave to the haters, hold it up let it linger, then ball up both hands and throw up the middle fingers and sing goodbye, and sing goodbye, and sing goodbye, bye haters!_" She sung to herself in her head as she walked.

She never really cared much about what other people thought about her. With the exception of Caitlyn, of course. Looking around at everyone else, she knew they were soft, where she was hard. She knew she could take a bullet or two and keep going, she knew she could fistfight her way out of any bar she walked in to. These people? They'd cower and start crying if you so much as pulled a knife on them.

"_Sheep, can't even protect themselves. Most of these fools wouldn't last a week alone on the streets," _she thought as she meandered down the sidewalk.

She wasn't exactly sure where she was going, she was just walking, waiting for an opportunity to find her. Simply put, she was looking for trouble. She knew that with all the criminals in the city, she didn't have to find it. Put yourself out in the open and wait long enough, and it would find you.

She eventually reached the theater that the family she saved had visited. It was built into one of the taller buildings in the city, and her eyes widened in recognition of it.

"_No shit, this is the place where I rescued Caitlyn!_" She smiled as old, happy memories filled her mind. She refused to let the sad ones of more recent events surface and ruin her good mood.

She walked over to the other side of the street, ignoring the honks she received from the people that she jaywalked past. She sat down on a nearby bench, released the seals on her gauntlets, and set them down on the bench next to her. She reached into the inside pocket of her jacket, and took out the flask that Caitlyn had given her. Unscrewing the top, she took a swig.

"_This one's for you, my love._"

She savored the feeling as the liqueur burned it's way down her throat. The pinkette sighed softly and closed her eyes, enjoying her memories of this place.

* * *

_"Vi, just stay down! There's too much fire!" Caitlyn yelled over at her enforcer. She crouched behind a police car, as bullets whizzed overhead. She took a quick peek over the top to assess the situation more thoroughly. There were four police cars parked in the middle of street, with multiple officers, including herself, using them as cover, from the gunfire the men in the theatre were raining down upon them. The terrorists were using the large windows of the front of the theater as shooting galleries to fire at the cops, and the walls in between the windows were more than wide enough to provide them cover from any return fire. _

_The terrorists, for that's what they were, were all armed with fully-automatic assault rifles, and the sheer volume of fire they were laying down was preventing the police from exposing any part of their bodies from behind the heavily-armored cars they were sheltering behind. The terrorists also appeared to have an incredibly large source of ammunition, as it had been several minutes since the shooting broke out, and it hadn't lessened since. They had apparently prepared for a siege. _

_As far as she could tell, the criminals were eco-terrorists, protesting the expansion of Piltover and the destruction of the surrounding forests, by blowing up a theatre. Normally not a high-value target, but the sheer amount of innocent people inside it at any given night gave it high shock-value, which is precisely what terrorists want when they select a target. _

_Caitlyn quickly brought her head back down under the cover of the police car, and thought about the information she had gathered. Rapidly forming a plan, she spoke to Vi while looking at the building plans she had brought up on her police-issue laptop. _

_"Right, so, if you and the rest of the men can provide enough cover, I can move into the buildings behind us and pick off the gunners with precision fire. Then, once they're a little more cautious about showing themselves in those windows, you all can move up to the front, and around the building to the rear entrance, and begin the breach. Sound like a plan?" _

_Caitlyn twitched as she realized Vi hadn't answered her. "Vi, are you even listen... Vi?"_

_Glancing over at the other side of the car, she realized her partner wasn't there anymore. She frantically pulled herself up and looked over towards the street, just in time to see Vi charging alone towards the theater, her gauntlets held up and her blast shield activated._

_"VI! GODDAMN IT!" Caitlyn screamed as she unslung her rifle, and quickly sighted in, picking off the first man she saw, not even bothering to take cover from return fire. Every shooter in the theater was too busy dumping rounds into Vi. _

_Caitlyn racked the bolt of her rifle and chambered another round, bringing the rifle back up to her cheek, just in time to see Vi literally punch her way through the barricaded front doors of the theater. She turned and looked at the other officers next to her, who stared dumbfounded at the gaping hole in the front of the building. Dust rained down around the impact area and obscured their view of the interior._

_"Well, what are you waiting for!" Caitlyn shouted. "Get to the back entrance and help her!"_

_The officers were spurred into action and rushed across the street in teams, some moving, and some covering those moving. They slid around to the side of the building in an orderly fashion, and proceeded to the back entrance. _

_Caitlyn slung her rifle and unholstered her sidearm, checking that there was a round in the chamber, and flicked the safety off. She swore under her breath and ran across the street in pursuit of her wayward Enforcer, pistol held at the ready. She carefully inched through the hole Vi had made, noting that the gunfire had ceased. She looked left and right, checked her corners, and proceeded into the front lobby. There, standing in the middle of almost a dozen bodies, was her partner, with a man held in a headlock, and a huge grin on her pretty face. _

_"Hey Cait. I saved one for ya!" Vi released the man, and he slumped over on the ground, gasping for breath._

_"Vi... oh screw it. We'll discuss your conduct later. Right now we just need to secure the building and make sure the explosives they planted aren't going to go off while we're still inside. Now have you checked for any yet?"_

_Vi shrugged and glanced around the room. She pointed at the corners of the lobby._

_"Well I mean, there are bombs there, there, and there. But they don't have timers, at least not that I can see. Who cares anyway? The rest of the officers already evacuated everyone that was trapped in the back rooms, and I think we're actually the last two people in the building."_

_Caitlyn sighed and pinched the bridge of her nose. "Fine, so there are bombs in here. And the backrooms? Were there any in there?"_

_"Yeap. But they don't have timers either, so like I said, everything's all good. Business as usual."_

_Caitlyn looked around at the room, noting the piles of explosives stacked in the corners, covered in red wires. _

_"...Right. Anyway, why haven't you restrained this man yet?" Caitlyn gestured at the man on the ground, who was still trying to catch his breath. Vi's gauntlets weren't exactly gentle, and having giant mechanical fists squeeze the life out of your neck wasn't the best of feelings. _

_Vi looked down at him and laughed. "Oh, well I was saving him for you of course! I figure'd you'd want a piece of these guys, couldn't take em all myself you know?" _

_Caitlyn tried to keep the grin off of her face, but she couldn't help it. "Right, but of course that didn't stop you from charging in, and attempting to take on the entire room without backup."_

_Vi just shrugged and smiled. It was one of her honest smiles, not just the evil grins she got while she was beating the life out of someone. Caitlyn loved those smiles. Ever since that Snowdown night a few months back, Caitlyn had done her best to get Vi to smile that way as much as she could. She found herself warming to the Enforcer, she felt like Vi actually understood her, and actually cared about her. And that was a first. She was good at reading people, it came with the job, and everyone that had gotten close to her so far was simply trying to take advantage of her position, or trying to get in her pants. But it was different with Vi. _

_When Caitlyn was still at the precinct weighed down with paperwork, and everyone else had gone home for the night, Vi was there, to keep her company. When Caitlyn had so much work that she was forced to skip a meal, Vi was there with a smile and something tasty to eat. When Caitlyn was feeling down, no matter how well she hid it behind her icy veneer, Vi somehow knew, and did her very best to try and cheer her up, get her to laugh, force a smile, something to let her know that **she cared**. And when Caitlyn was in her house by herself on the weekend, feeling lonely as usual, she found her thoughts turn to her pink-haired partner more and more. Maybe she could trust Vi? Trust her with her feelings, her private thoughts, her heart? Even though she told herself she didn't need someone like that, that she was fine on her own, she knew she was lying to herself. There was a void in her heart, a hole just waiting to be filled by someone. Could it be Vi? Could it be the one person that actually seemed to care about her, and genuinely like her, just for who she was, and not because she was a pretty face, and the Sheriff at that? _

_She was snapped out of her thoughts by the terrorist at her feet, who was starting to stir. Caitlyn gasped as he rolled over, and she saw what was in his hands. A black cylinder with a red button on top. A detonator. _

_"Shit!" Vi yelled and threw herself on top of the man, as Caitlyn went for the device. Before they could stop him, he jammed his thumb down on the button. And detonated every single explosive throughout the theater. Her world vanished in a blinding flash of light._

* * *

_Warmth. Heat. Uncomfortable heat. Fire. _

_Vi immediately snapped back to consciousness and rolled over, struggled to remove her flaming jacket, and threw it away from her. Smoke immediately filled her eyes, and she coughed as it filled her lungs as well. This wasn't the smoke she enjoyed, this was brutal, unfiltered smoke that stung your lungs and made it impossible to breathe. She crouched low to the ground and attempted to look around, the flames everywhere throwing stark shadows around and making the lobby appear like a vision of hell._

_"Caitlyn. Where is Caitlyn?" She frantically thought. She drew in a deep breath._

_"CAITLYN! CAN YOU HEAR ME?! WHERE ARE YOU!?" She screamed. _

_She crawled on the ground, to try and keep the smoke from filling her lungs and eyes, over to where she threw her jacket. She ripped off the sleeve and tied it around her mouth, to act as a temporary filter from the fumes. _

_"Where is she where is she where is she come on where the fuck is she" Vi frantically climbed over fallen beams and wrecked masonry, the only thought on her mind was finding her partner._

_"There."_

_Her eyes finally caught sight of a small spot of purple, the shade of Caitlyn's dress. She high-crawled as fast as she possibly could over to Caitlyn. She was obscured by fallen rubble, and an iron beam from the ceiling was laying next to her, roughly an inch from her head. _

_What little breath Vi had left caught in her throat as she realized how close Caitlyn had come to dying. If the beam had fallen a tiny bit to the right, it would have crushed her skull. _

_"This is all my fault, this is all my fault. Fuck!" Vi thought to herself as her mind attempted to tear itself apart with sheer guilt. She felt sick to her stomach as her actions finally caught up to her. If she hadn't rushed in, and just done what Caitlyn had said for once, they wouldn't be in this situation. _

_But Vi wasn't one to just give up. Even if her mind was tormented, her body would keep going. While her mind battled itself, the rational part of it accusing her of almost murdering Caitlyn, and the stubborn part vehemently denying it, her hands frantically worked to free her partner, tireless arms moving and shifting the rubble with as much care as possible. After a few seconds of work that felt like hours to the Enforcer, she gently rose into a crouch, and picked up the unconscious Sheriff in her arms, gently cradling her. She stood, while still trying to stay as low to the ground, and looked over to the gaping hole in the wall she had created. Memorizing the path to the entrance, she shut her eyes half-way and ran towards it, leaping over the beams and rubble in her path, shielding Caitlyn from the flames with her body. She suffered numerous burns from brushing so close to the fire, but she didn't care. Her only purpose in that moment was to save Caitlyn. All other concerns were secondary. _

_"Feet don't fail me now..." she thought as she ran. _

_Finally, after what felt like an infinite amount of time trapped in that blazing hellscape, she burst into the open air of the street. Her legs moving on autopilot, she almost ran into a parked car. Her brain caught up with the rest of her body, and she stopped and looked around. The street was filled with emergency vehicles, fire trucks and ambulances, emergency personnel looking on with disbelief in their eyes. Two people they had thought dead had just emerged from the grave, back into the land of the living. _

_Vi however, didn't notice any of that. She was staring down at Caitlyn's sleeping face, entranced by her beauty. Even with soot covering her face, her brown hair burnt and singed in some places, she was still the most gorgeous, precious thing the ex-criminal had ever seen. The brunette's face was so peaceful in her rest, her expression like she didn't have a care in the world. It was the first time Vi had ever seen that expression on Caitlyn's face. She didn't want it to ever leave. From that moment on, Vi vowed to try her best to provide Caitlyn with that feeling, that there was nothing to worry about, nothing to fear, that everything would be alright. _

_Caitlyn stirred, shifting a bit in Vi's arms, and opened her eyes a bit. As she realized exactly who was holding her, her eyes widened and her face grew red. She fought for words for a few seconds, as Vi stared down at her with nothing but care and love in her eyes. Caitlyn's heart was beating furiously, and her stomach felt like it was filled with butterflies. She felt herself gasping for breath, and it wasn't from the smoke pouring out of the gaping hole in the wall. _

_They were broken out of their first intimate moment however, as the paramedics rushed forward to take Caitlyn out of Vi's arms and carry her to a nearby ambulance. Vi realized what they were trying to do and glared at them, the expression on her face like that of a mother bear protecting her cubs. They saw the murderous look she was giving them and slowed, stopping short. Vi continued her glare, and slowly carried Caitlyn to the ambulance herself._

_"You know Vi... you can put me down... my legs work fine." Caitlyn whispered. She was looking away, unable to meet her partners eyes. The giant blush on her face didn't make things any easier either._

_Vi looked at her with shock as she realized exactly who she was holding, and what the implications were. She dropped Caitlyn with more haste than she had meant to, and the brunette yelped as she barely managed to catch herself before she hit the ground. _

_"Oh shit! I'm so sorry!" Vi said as she helped Caitlyn back up to her feet._

_"It's fine. Did you... did you pull me out of that?" The Sheriff nervously gestured at the burning remains of the theater._

_Vi scratched the back of her neck and looked away. Her face was almost as red as the brunette's. _

_"Oh, yeah, it was nothing. Wasn't even that hot."_

_Caitlyn looked at the numerous burns on Vi's body and gasped._

_"Not that hot!? Vi, look at yourself, some of those are first degree burns! You need medical attention more than I do!"_

_Vi glanced at the burns on her arms and shoulders, noticing them for the first time. "Whoah, shit. Guess I was too busy carrying you... I mean saving you. You know. I didn't really notice." She grinned sheepishly._

_Before Caitlyn could ask her partner how one could possibly ignore first degree burns, the paramedics rushed over and separated the two, a group of them applying sterile gauze and bandages to Vi while forcing her into an ambulance, while another group tended to Caitlyn and put her in a separate ambulance. _

_Vi struggled in the grip of the men trying to treat her, and shouted to where Caitlyn was getting in the back of the emergency vehicle. "I'll come visit you!" She yelled._

_Caitlyn smiled warmly back at Vi and nodded, and the Enforcer's normally rock-hard heart melted. _

_"Fuck, I love those smiles." She thought to herself as she rode to the hospital. _

* * *

_Caitlyn was laying in her bed in her hospital room, the white-washed walls not offering much in the way of aesthetics. She had had the nurse bring her a cup of tea and a book, and while she normally wouldn't read something like "The Economy on Steroids: How Stock Trading Can Make You Rich in Less Than a Month", it was better than staring at the ceiling and counting how many small black holes were in the tiles. Her hospital gown felt slightly uncomfortable, but the sheets were warm and clean, and she honestly couldn't complain. She tried to pick back up reading where she left off, but the brunette just couldn't keep her partner off of her mind. She sighed and looked to her right, where a wide window offered an elevated view of the Piltoverian skyline, currently being soaked by rain. The lights of the buildings shone brightly in the night, and somehow they only made her feel more lonely without her partner by her side. The pitter-patter of the rain on the window served to confuse her thoughts more than calm them, as they usually did._

_"Vi said she would visit me tonight... did she really mean that? It's been almost two days. But at the same time those burns looked pretty bad... maybe she's confined to her room? Hmm, but the Vi I know wouldn't let something like that stop her if she really wanted to visit me. Was it just a lie to make me feel better? Augh, why is this so hard? Why am I overthinking this so much?" She thought to herself. _

_The rainstorm outside matched her mood. _

_She was still watching the rain play over the window panes a few minutes later, when there was a knock at her door. Just one. That wouldn't be the doctors or the nurses, they always knocked multiple times and asked if they could come in. _

_"Come in." Caitlyn said as she nervously looked towards the door, hoping it would be the one person she needed to see, and yet at the same time dreaded to see the most._

_"Cait?" Vi peeked her head into the room, and Caitlyn's heart jumped with happiness. _

_"Yes, please do come in Vi." Caitlyn spoke with a raspiness to her voice, the smoke not yet entirely purged from her lungs. _

_Vi smiled and stepped inside, glancing around and then seating herself on the chair beside Caitlyn's bed. _

_Caitlyn smiled back at her. "I'm afraid I can't offer you any refreshments, the hospital supplies are somewhat lacking in whiskey, I'm told."_

_Vi laughed warmly at Caitlyn's joke, registering with surprise that it was the first one she could recall. Was it just her, or was Caitlyn genuinely happy to see her? Her cheeks grew red at the thought._

_"I'm sorry I didn't come see you sooner, but after they cleared me from care, I was busy down at the precinct dealing with all the paperwork from the case. Got it all taken care of, don't you worry. I came as soon as that was done, haven't even slept yet."_

_Caitlyn was shocked. "You mean... you mean you did the case file? All of it? Considering how much damage was done, how many people were killed, how many witnesses there were... you did it all?"_

_Vi smiled proudly. "Yeap. I didnt' want you to have to worry about it. You've got enough on your plate as is."_

_"So... wow. Vi, thank you, seriously. I know how much you hate doing paperwork, and the fact that you'd do it all just so I didn't have to take care of it when I get out later... thank you. From the bottom of my heart."_

_Vi blushed furiously at that, and scratched the back of her neck. _

_"Fuck why do I always do that? It's a pretty damn clear giveaway of when I'm nervous." Vi thought to herself._

_"Uh, yeah, anyway, I wanted to ask, when do you get out Cait?"_

_Caitlyn shrugged and took a sip of her tea. "Mmm, the doctors said it should be only a few days from now. They're just clearing the smoke out of my lungs now. I inhaled quite a bit while I was unconscious." _

_"Oh, that's good. I mean, that you're going to be out soon, not that you... you know."_

_Caitlyn smiled. "It's fine Vi, I know what you meant."_

_Vi stared down at the ground between her feet, unable to look the beautiful brunette in the eyes. "Well I was thinking... a lot, about, you know how close you came to dying in there. There was a beam that fell from the ceiling, it landed like an inch away from your face. And I was thinking, just about how short life is and all that. And how... how I don't want to regret not taking... chances. Um..."_

_Caitlyn's breath caught in her throat. Was Vi about to ask her what she thought she was going to?_

_Vi looked up and met Caitlyn's gaze with her own. Were her purple eyes always this stunningly beautiful? Vi felt like she could get lost in them. _

_"C'mon Vi, you can do this. Focus." She thought to herself._

_"Would you.. would you like to... go to dinner? I mean with me? I mean, as soon as you get out of the hospital, I mean as soon as you're ready, to go to dinner. After you're all healed and everything. Yeah." Vi gulped as she braced for the worst._

_Caitlyn's heart was beating faster than she thought possible. Vi... Vi was actually asking her out. Everything she thought was true, her partner did actually care about her. But was she asking this as a friend or as... something more?_

_Caitlyn stuttered as she tried to force words into her mouth. "As f-friends? Or... like a date." She inwardly cringed as she realized how nervous she sounded. She worked so hard to maintain her ice queen persona, and now it was melting before her eyes. _

_Vi stared at the ground once more. "Like... like a date. I mean if that's okay, if you just want to be friends I can do that too."_

_Caitlyn's heart felt like it was going to explode in her chest. She reached over to Vi and gently lifted her chin so that their eyes met, all hesitation in her mind gone. _

_"Yes Vi. I'd love to go on a date with you. I'd love it more than anything."_

_Vi smiled widely, her face redder than a tomato. _

_"Oh uh... great. So... I'll pick you up sometime? I mean when you get out of the hospital? I'll come by and visit more of course, I've just got, uh things to do. Right now. So I'll be back as soon as I can. Hope you get better soon, and let me know if there's anything you need while you're stuck in here. _

_Before Vi could stand up and excuse herself from the room, Caitlyn reached over and slipped her hand inside of Vi's. Vi stared down at their intertwined fingers, stunned. She looked up to where the brunette simply smiled at her, getting lost in the complexity of Caitlyn's eyes. The stunning shades of purple and magenta mixed wildly with the grey in her irises. Vi was struck speechless, something that had never happened before in her entire life._

_"I'll... I gotta go. I'll come back soon, I promise." Vi said when she managed to look away from Caitlyn's eyes._

_The brunette simply smiled and gave her partners hand a squeeze. _

_Vi got up and walked out the door, smiling at Caitlyn before she shut it._

_Caitlyn turned back to the window, and for the first time in a long time, she didn't feel alone anymore. The smile on her face was genuine. And so was the feeling of happiness in her heart. She had finally found someone she might have a chance to be happy with. Someone that understood her and cared about her for who she was. As she drifted off to sleep, she did so with the knowledge that she wasn't alone anymore. _

* * *

Vi felt something cold press against her forehead, and opened her eyes in annoyance.

"What the fuck do you... oh."

Unfortunately, whenever Vi lost herself in her thoughts, she tended to block out all external influences. If she hadn't, she might have noticed the streets around her emptying out, and a host of black armored vehicles pulling up to the theater that she was sitting across from. As she opened her eyes, she realized she was quite fucked.

A grinning man in a black suit, with a well cared-for beard, had the barrel of a shotgun pressed to her forehead. Roughly a dozen men were right behind him, all pointing rifles at her. Beyond them, even more suited men cradled an assortment of light machine guns, shotguns, rifles, sub-machine guns, and pistols. A host of armored vehicles were in the street, with men leaning against them, smiling wickedly at her. On the rooftops across from her, they even had snipers posted. Fucking snipers.

"_Am I really worth this much trouble? Shit, this is probably the worst situation I've ever been in actually._"

She glanced to her right, at her gauntlets that were still lying on the bench. When she did, the man with the shotgun forcefully shoved her head back with it, scolding her.

"None of that now miss, wouldn't want you doing anything rash and getting your brains blown out prematurely, now would we?"

Vi scoffed and stared right at him.

"Well what the fuck do you want then?"

The man smiled at her, but it didn't reach his eyes.

"Well, before I explain that, I believe some introductions are in order. The names Sharlto Copley, and the fine gentlemen you see behind me are the Blades. Skilled bunch of men they are, we only call them in when someone **really **dangerous needs to be taken out. Such as yourself. Don't bother introducing yourself either, I already know who you are."

Vi simply maintained her hard stare, feeling her hatred for the man growing with every passing second.

The suited man continued. "Now, as for what we're doing here, you probably figured that out for yourself. We're here for you. The boss put out a hit on you, and we're going to be the ones to collect. You've got quite a sum resting on that pretty head of yours. Too bad it'll be ruined once we're done. I figure we take a picture of you now, for proof, and then I let each of the boys here fire at least a few rounds into you. Do you know how frustrating it is to get all suited up for a hit, get your shiny gun all loaded up, and then not get to shoot anything? One of the worst feelings, trust me. Anyway, I'll try to make this quick. Can't say the same for the rest of the boys though, they've been restless lately."

Vi's expression hadn't changed. She finally spoke. "What would you do if I grabbed my gauntlets here, and killed every last one of your "boys?" What would you do then?"

Vi mentally prepared herself for what was to come, and made a tiny movement towards her gauntlets. "_Time to punch a __**lot**__ of faces in. You ready for this Vi? Of course I am. I'm Vi. Let's do it._"

"Oh ho! Feisty to the end! I like it. You'd probably be great to have on my team, but unfortunately you're worth more to me as a corpse than as a-OOF!"

Vi's boot connected squarely with the man's chin, as she kicked almost straight up while still seated on the bench. While doing this, she threw her right gauntlet at the nearest armed thug to her, and she slipped the other arm into her left gauntlet. Her right glove rebounded squarely off of the man's face, and she dove under the ensuing spray of fire and held up her right arm, letting the glove fall firmly onto it as it automatically detected her DNA and sealed itself. Her gauntlets were a lot more complex than anyone thought. She wouldn't want anyone using them against her, even if they somehow managed to lift them. She had at least one thing going in her favor, the men by the vehicles and on the rooftops didn't want to hit the men near Vi, since they were standing so close to her, so for now they held their fire.

With both gauntlets on, Vi started punching with force. Swinging left and right with jabs and hooks, she crushed skulls and ribcages, broke legs, cracked spines, and snapped necks. She had spent almost her entire life fighting, and not a single effort was wasted. She might look like a simple brawler to some, but every strike was targeted and refined, and not a single one of her punches failed to break at least one bone. The men near her quickly fell back in confusion, so confused that they didn't even think of shooting her. Shooting someone didn't normally work when your target was breaking your arms anyway. One of the thugs found a clear shot, and racked his sub-machine gun and sighted in. Vi grabbed the nearest man to her and forced him in front of her, holding him upright as his body was riddled with small-caliber rounds. Shoving the body towards the shooter with enough force to knock him over, she continued punching.

The snipers had started to take potshots, but she was moving too fast for them to get a clear shot. Some of the snipers were even hitting their own men. Vi was grinning, she loved this, this was what she lived for. She never felt more free than when she was able to just fight, it was in her blood and there was nothing she enjoyed more. Well, except for Caitlyn, but now that she was gone, fighting was all she had left. And she was damn well going to enjoy it. The thugs started to wise up, and tried to back up to create space for their allies to get clear shots. Vi responded by charging her gauntlets with excessive force, so that each blow she made struck with enough force that the shockwave went through each target she hit. The impact liquified their internal organs and ground their bones into powder, and then continued through their bodies to strike the men behind them, bowling them over and snapping their bones as well. Vi was yelling at this point, laughing insanely and shouting insults to the men as she broke their bodies.

And then she ran into a wall. Not literally, although the man might as well have been one. He was a hulking, 8-foot tall giant of a human being, with rippling muscle visible on his bare arms. His head was bald, and he had a brutal snarl on his face. Vi grinned at him and swung a left hook at his chest, but it seemed he had the reflexes to match his strength, and he stopped the Enforcer's punch with his open palm. He closed his fingers over her gauntlet and matched Vi's strength with his own. Vi put her weight into her left arm, and attempted to overpower him, but his size was telling, and he began to force her backwards. So she swung her right arm too, aiming for his head this time. This punch, he stopped with his other palm, closing his fingers over the gauntlet like before and slowly began forcing her backwards. In her duel with the giant, Vi had completely forgotten that there were other people in the fight as well. Completely caught off guard, a rifle butt slammed into the back of her head, filling her vision with stars and sending her head swimming. If her skull wasn't so thick, it might have knocked her unconscious. As it was, she simply kicked out behind her and pushed the offending thug away. But unfortunately for her, there was more than just one. Another man stepped up and swung his rifle into the back of her leg, forcing her down onto one knee and making her gasp with pain. But the criminals weren't done yet. Another man pistol-whipped her with his revolver, knocking her head sideways as her vision started to fill with black.

"_I won't go down... not yet... not ever..._" She raged in her head.

She struggled to free her gauntlets from the giant, and when she realized it wasn't a possibility, she disengaged the seals with her thumbs, and released her hands. Free of the gauntlets, she immediately turned around and swung at the man with the revolver, connecting with his jaw and laying him out on the concrete. The man with the rifle that had struck her knee swung it again, and this time she grabbed the buttstock before it could connect, twisted it around, and forced the barrel forward, striking the man in the face and sending him reeling backward with a bloody scream. With the rifle gripped in her hands like a club, she turned around and prepared to swing at the giant brute behind her. Only to find her vision filled with his fist, which immediately knocked her to the ground with the force of a train. Tears filled her eyes as she struggled to stand, but the giant stood over her and planted his foot on her chest. She gasped with pain and struggled to breath as he ground his foot into her, and she felt multiple ribs break. While this was happening, another Blade took the opportunity to swing his rifle down upon her left leg, snapping the bone in half. Vi screamed in agony, as the man then did the same to her other leg.

"That's it boys!" She heard the bearded man from before shout. "Finish her off, nice and slow as you please."

The men took advantage of the fact that she was pinned to the ground by the giant's foot, and one of them grabbed her thrashing hand, and slowly began cutting it with his knife, savoring the look of agony on her face. Another placed his boot upon her other hand, and twisted it, grinding her fingers into the pavement. They were laughing, finding it hilarious as she died slowly.

Vi couldn't believe it. Was this the end?

"_This... I can't believe this is it. Caitlyn, I'll be there soon. Just pissed I couldn't take more of them with me-AAUUGH!_"

Vi screamed in her mind, her mouth didn't work anymore, another man had just slammed a hammer into it, breaking her jaw.

At that moment, something else broke inside of her, not her body, but her soul. Something in her mind snapped, and the dark will she had felt earlier, telling her to brutally murder all of those men in the park, surged to the fore. She felt like she was falling in darkness, drawn into an infinite black abyss as she screamed on her way down. She blacked out as she fell into the pit.

Vi was no longer in control of her body. And whatever was, began to change it.

The man grinding her fingers into the pavement recoiled as his boot was forced upward, as her finger bones seemingly turned into steel and re-knit themselves. The man slicing her hand backed up, watching in horror as the deep cut in her skin sealed itself up, the blood pouring from it turning black, and long, sharp talons growing from the tips of her fingers. Her leg bones snapped back into place with a loud crunch, and the giant's foot was forced upwards as her rib bones resisted, and pushed themselves back into place. Her jaw rose back into her face, her teeth elongating into sharpened fangs. Her eyes were black holes, soulless pits full of murderous intent. Two black horns sprouted from her forehead, and her skin and hair turned pale white, like dirty snow. The demon inside of Vi roared with a terribly fury, and a shockwave of Void energy exploded from it. The men, who had been backing up in horror and re-loading their rifles, were thrown outwards from her, slamming into walls and vehicles and falling to the ground.

"I'M GOING TO KILL YOU ALL! WITNESS THE WRATH OF THE VOID!" The demon screamed as it forced Vi's transformed body to it's feet, and began its terrible slaughter.

It moved faster than the human eye could track, dashing from man to man, disemboweling them with its vicious talons. Some it gutted, some it stabbed, some it plucked the eyes from. All were left dead, or screaming in absolute agony and terror. It slashed, spun, and tore. Arms were ripped from sockets, legs were yanked from bodies, heads were sent flying through the air, spiraling trails of blood hanging behind them. Blood began to cover the street as the men were torn apart, the bearded man suffering a particularly gruesome fate.

After ripping both of the man's arms from his body, the demon lunged forward and stabbed its horns into his chest, lifting him into the air and slamming him into a wall. Holding him there, he then ripped off both of his legs, then let the twitching body drop to the ground. Plunging a fist into the man's chest and gripping his heart, the demon's hand surged with unholy power, and pumped life back into the man's body. Somehow brought back into existence, the man screamed in horror and disbelief as the demon used its talons and cut him to bloody ribbons. When the man's temporary life finally expired, there wasn't enough left of him to recognize as belonging to a human being.

The snipers that hadn't turned and ran in terror were trying their best to hit the beast, as fast as it was. One of the men finally got the demon's head right in his crosshairs, only to have it turn and stare right at him with its soulless eyes. He fired, and gasped in disbelief as the demon extended its arm, and caught the bullet between two fingers. In the blink of an eye, it was beside him, and he dropped his rifle in shock, struggling to pull his sidearm. The demon thrust its arm forward and shoved the point of the bullet into the man's eye, piercing his skull and his brain, ending his life in a heartbeat.

The demon jumped from rooftop to rooftop, hunting down each and every last sniper and ending their lives in ever more creative ways. Finally, one man was still alive. Barely.

The streets flowed with blood, rivers of it pouring into the gutters lining the sidewalk. The only one left alive was the giant man, struggling to stand with both of his arms missing. He was too dumb to realize he was already dead, and faced the demon down, preparing to kick it to death if he had to.

The demon that was controlling Vi's body landed a few feet from him, and licked its lips, savoring the scent of blood and the taste of all the lives it had brutally ended.

It casually walked towards the man, and he rushed forwards and threw a front kick at the demon. The demon casually reached out its arm and caught the giant's foot in its palm, grasping it and throwing the man sideways into an armored truck, with enough force to dent the vehicle and send it skidding across the ground. While the giant struggled to rise with only the use of his legs, the demon glanced around for something creative to use to kill him. It's eyes alighted upon a sword strapped to the back of one of the dead men, not wondering why the man had brought a longsword in the first place. Void beings were not concerned with mortal affairs, such as deciding upon what kind of weapon to bring into battle.

Stepping over to the man's dismembered body and unsheathing the sword, it slowly ran its tongue along the blade's edge. Good. This blade had killed before. It loved that taste. Glancing over at the giant, it was pleased to see the man had managed to stand on his own again. The demon lunged forward with the blade outstretched.

One stab through the left eye socket, and in the blink of an eye, another step through the right. A quick chop, and the man's head was parted from his body. Two quick horizontal slashes, and his legs were chopped off too. It all happened in a blur. The man's torso hung in the air for a split second, and then dropped to the ground amidst the rest of his limbs. The demon smiled wickedly.

It looked around, noting with disappointment that there was no one left to kill. It supposed it was time to go back, back to the dark hidden corners of the mind that had unluckily fallen prey to it in the Void. The Void was nice and all, but the things there didn't die quite like they did in this dimension. The creatures here died so messily, and there were so many ways to take them apart. What was even better, was that sometimes they stayed alive through the entire thing! It relished the scent of death around it, and then receded back into the hidden places in Vi's soul and mind.

The horns receded, the talons withdrew, and Vi's skin returned to its regular healthy color. Her hair turned bright pink again, and color returned to her eyes, black pits changing back into icy blue irises. Her bones however, didn't re-break, but stayed woven together. Her cuts and bruises remained healed. Vi staggered drunkenly and reached out to steady herself against a nearby armored truck, as her mind returned to the fore and she regained awareness of her surroundings.

"_The fuck... ugh this is just a horrible hangover... when was I drinking? Last thing I remember I was... fighting... what is this on my hand?_" She thought to herself, as she opened her eyes to look at her hand.

She noticed with shock that her hand, and the truck it was resting against, was covered in blood. Not only that either, she looked around in horror as she took in the full magnitude of the scene before her. Bodies, limbs, heads, everywhere. Blood in lakes. Just like before, when she had regained consciousness after falling into the Void. The distinct possibility that the culprit was somehow her, entered her tortured mind. The stench of blood and shredded meat filled her nostrils and made it hard to breathe, hard to think. There was no sound other than the drip-drip-dripping of blood into the gutters. Her mind was close to breaking.

"_I have to get away. I have to get away. Get away. GET AWAY!_" She screamed in her head as she turned and ran down the street, desperate to get somewhere, anywhere, any place that wasn't the bloody hellscape before her. She disappeared into a side alley and kept running. She didn't even collect her gauntlets from where they lay on the street, blood slowly seeping into them.

* * *

Only one other person had witnessed the bloodbath. Only one other person had seen the slaughter, and when it was over, had seen who was really behind the rampaging demon. From her perch on a 7-story building across the street, Caitlyn maintained a death grip on her rifle, and covered her mouth in shock as her scarred mind struggled to comprehend what she had just seen.

* * *

**_A/N: Yeah sorry this one took so long. Titanfall just came out, and I've been having way to much fun lately melting faces with the autoloading machine gun on my Atlas titan. Fuck the Ogre and the Strider, it's all about that Atlas bitches. Damage core wins every time. Anyway, finally got around to finishing this chapter, and I hope the length makes up for the delay. Had a lot of fun writing it, especially the scene near the end. And of course, every bit I write gets me closer to writing fluff. I can't wait to write the reunion between the two, its the original reason I started writing this. Yeah, I mean action and story is cool and all, but I read and write ff, for the fluff. Dem feels mang. Anyway, please leave a review, they keep me motivated. _**

**_Talos out._**


	7. Chapter 7

Moving without thinking, Caitlyn snaps into action. Vi has become a target to her, and that's all that matters now. All other thoughts are pushed out of her head. She has a target, and they will not escape. Only once has anyone ever escaped her, and it won't happen again. She collapses her rifle into its smaller, less bulky form, and slings it over her shoulder. Her eyes shine with grim determination as the first drops of rain begin to fall, and start to wash the blood-drenched street below clean.

She aims her hex-tech grappling device at the building across the street and fires the line, but doesn't wait for it to connect before she dives off of the 7th story ledge she is on. The wind rushes through her hair as she falls, and any observer would think she was going to keep falling and hit the ground. But right before she does, she triggers the gauntlet, and the line retracts with incredible power, bringing her with it. She flies up, and shifts her legs to swing sideways, flying past the building she grappled to. She thumbs another button on the gauntlet, and the claw releases it's grip and zips back to her. She's really flying now, propelled through the air from the inertia of her swing, legs and arms back, chest out and eyes closed. Her grey cloak flaps in the wind as she soars between the skyscrapers of Piltover, high in the air. The rain begins to pour.

Caitlyn lives for this now, this feeling of freedom, of being able to go anywhere and do anything. It's an adrenaline rush unlike any other, and when she's flying like this, swinging from building to building with her grappling hook, never once touching the ground, she never wants to come down again. Down there was pain, down there was hardship, and suffering. Nothing could touch her up here. She could empty her mind, and just be one with the wind rushing past her. She could forget about everything that had happened. Forget about Vi. Wait...

"_VI_!" Her mind practically screamed the name at her, as she snapped back into reality and remembered exactly who she was chasing. Not some nameless criminal, not some corrupt cop, but Vi, her girlfriend, the love of her life, and the cause of all of her misery for the past two years. Because she had disappeared, and never came back for her. And it had ripped her up inside, when the dark parts of her mind whispered to her in the night, when she was cold and alone, telling her that her partner had abandoned her on purpose. She was too cold, too uncaring, and she didn't appreciate Vi when she had been a part of her life. The voices told her that she was never coming back.

But there she was, down there on the dark streets of Piltover, running like the devil was at her heels. She had to get closer. She had to catch her. **She had to**. She couldn't let Vi go again, couldn't watch her disappear into the night once more. Her sharp, calculating mind refused to consider that as a possibility, and she normally considered everything, every possible outcome. But Vi leaving her again, that was not one of them. Not when she was so close.

She flew though the air, swinging from building to building, with the ease of someone who had done this for their entire life. Her reflexes were sharp and honed, and her mind analyzed every possible location her grappling hook could latch to, what trajectory she would need to avoid smashing into a building, what amount of force she would need to increase her speed as she flew.

And she did this all while her eyes remained glued to the fleeing figure below her. The streets were empty, and the rain poured down, almost obscuring her vision of the wayward Enforcer. It didn't look to her like Vi was running from her, but she was certainly running from something. Perhaps herself, and after what she had witnessed in front of that movie theater, Caitlyn knew she would be running too.

She aims her gauntlet at a gargoyle ahead of her, and thumbs the extend button. The claw shoots forward with almost supersonic speed and spears into the rough stone, then closes its talons and secures itself. She retracts the line, pulling herself towards the gargoyle, and swings under it, then flips over and lands on top of it. Turning and looking down, she can see that she is ahead of Vi, and only a good five stories above her. She lets herself fall forward, off the gargoyle, and grabs onto the jutting mouth of the stone demon. Hanging in the air now, she punches the claw of her hex-tech gauntlet into the gray marble, and activates its talons. She's so close now. She lets go.

And she falls, four stories, now three, two, one. Right before she would have hit the ground, she thumbs the retract button, and the cable goes taut and begins to pull her back up, nearly wrenching her arm out of its socket. She doesn't care. Before the cable can drag her upwards, she releases the claw, and falls the last ten or so metres to the ground. She lands on the balls of her feet and turns the landing into a roll, coming up... and crashing into Vi, tackling her to the ground.

The rain is a deluge now, splashing off the pavement in a fine mist. Caitlyn's hood has fallen off, and her hair is soaking wet and clinging to her face. She straddles her former partner, hands on the other woman's shoulders, staring down at her. Vi stares back up at her in shock, she hasn't moved since she was knocked to the ground by the falling Sheriff. Caitlyn's violet eyes shift back and forth desperately, looking for some sign that Vi remembers her. Something flickers in Vi's eyes, recognition? Yes, recognition, and... fear?

"_She's not real, she's not real,_ _I can't face her, not now, NOT LIKE THIS! NOT AFTER WHAT I'VE DONE!_" Vi's broken mind screams at itself.

Vi shoves the Sheriff off of her with more force than she intends, and Caitlyn yelps in surprise as she lands on her back, the rain falling into her eyes. She scrambles back to her feet, just in time to see her girlfriend's skin turn a pale white, and her eyes become black pits.

"_Oh no, not this again. Will I be able to stop her if she tries to kill me? After seeing what those she did to those men, I doubt it," _Caitlyn thinks to herself as she desperately tries to come up with a way to prevent the demon in front of her from tearing her apart.

But before she can do anything, the ground Vi is laying on begins to glow and sickly purple color, and she slowly sinks into it, disappearing from sight. And the ground becomes normal again, leaving no trace of the woman who was just laying on top of it.

Caitlyn's breath thunders in her ears as she stares blankly at the ground in front her, unable to comprehend what just happened. The rain still pours as harshly as before.

"_She left me... again, on purpose. She knew it was me... and she left. She was afraid of me. Did she think I would abhor her? That I would label her a monster and kill her? Oh Vi..._"

Caitlyn wrapped her arms around herself and stared at the ground, rocking back and forth as she vainly fought the tears that she knew would reach her eyes anyway. Vi was there, right there in front of her, close enough to hold again. And now she was gone. This time, probably for good. Caitlyn knew now that Vi was avoiding her on purpose, probably had been these last two years.

_"What happened to her on that mission from the League? Is she some sort of demon now? Why did she kill those men? Why didn't she kill me? Why did she leave again? Why? WHY!?"_

Her mind swirled with questions as she was left alone, once again. Her insides felt like they were turning into ash. And the heartless rain kept pouring down, uncaring of anything at all.

* * *

The Piltover countryside would be considered beautiful by anyone who laid eyes upon it. Green rolling hills, freshly tilled fields, orchards of fruit trees. There is a particularly tall hill overlooking the fields, with a single ancient oak tree perched on top of it. The view from the hill is spectacular, and Joebb Archer knows that the view is at it's best after a full day of rain, such as the one they just had. The grass is at its greenest right after a storm. And so he sits, back against the oak, watching the sun go down over the horizon, marveling at the power of nature to create things far more beautiful than mankind could ever manage.

Darkness falls, the sun retreats, and the moon takes its place. Joebb begins the long walk back to his family's farm, wondering what tomorrow will bring. He is nearly a man now, and his father is beginning to trust him with more responsibility as a result. He knows his father will pass on, and he will take over his work. He doesn't mind, he accepts it as a fact of life. The farm will pass to him, just as it did to his father, his father's father, and countless generations of Archer's before him. The Archer family farmed. That was what they did. The folks in the big city had to have something to eat.

Joebb enjoys this time of night, right after the sun has set. The sun's warmth still lingers, and the cold of night has not yet set in. The birds are returning to their nests, and the rustling of the wind through the orchard he walks in is normally calming. But something is different about tonight. There is no wind, and the moon has disappeared behind the clouds, as if it is betraying him. Even the crickets have stopped chirping. He glances over his shoulder and picks up his pace, his mind beginning to conjure up dark phantoms in the shadows. He knows the countryside is safe, crime is rare around here, but still something feels wrong.

There's a noise in the distance.

_"Was that... buzzing? Like some sort of big bug or something?" _He wonders.

He reaches the end of the orchard and enters the cornfields surrounding his home, but he knows he still has a long way to go before he reaches his house.

He's almost running now, he's never wanted to just get home this bad in his life. He knows he's just seeing things, hearing things, but even still, a cold chill is running down his spine.

The strange buzzing noise sounds again, like the flapping of insect wings, albeit a very large insect. This time it's louder, closer, and he knows that his mind is not playing tricks on him.

He breaks into a sprint, pushing his legs hard and fast. He used to run through the fields as a boy, laughing as his father would chase him and pretend to be a monster of some sort, but this was different. This was real, he could feel something actually hunting him, something inhuman.

A piercing cry echoes through the night, an alien sound that he's never heard before. It sounds hungry. He closes his eyes and runs faster than he has ever ran before.

And he trips. His foot catches on a rock and he loses his balance, pitching off the road and rolling into the cornfield.

He sits up and looks around, eyes wide with fright. His breath comes in hitched gasps, and he realizes he is covered in sweat.

_"Not like this, not like this, this isn't supposed to happen, I can't die here!"_

He shakily pulls himself to his feet and starts to walk forward again, through the paths in the corn fields that he remembers by heart. This time he moves cautiously, hoping that whatever it was, it had lost sight of him when he fell. He dares to hope that he's evaded it.

There's a rustling behind him, and he freezes, his blood running cold, and his eyes dilating in terror. He turns his head as slowly as he can, hoping beyond hope that it was just some small animal.

The clouds retreat, and the moon shines through again, bringing with it a silvery light that illuminates his surroundings. Nothing. There's nothing there. He sighs in relief, and turns back around.

Just in time to see a glimmer of purple haze, as a creature from his deepest nightmares materializes in front of him, and impales him through the chest with a long, impossibly sharp talon.

He looks down dumbly at the object spearing through him, and then back up at the horrific creature, as blood starts to leak from the corners of his mouth. It looks like a horribly evolved bug, with wings, and talons, and a purple carapace. His mind struggles to comprehend what is happening to it.

"_I can't feel any pain... so this can't be real, this is all just a horrible nightmare and I'll wake up safe in my bed. I can't feel this thing in my chest, I can't, can't - _HUUAAAGGHHH!"

The pain finally stabs into his mind, a piercing agony, and he knows this is real. His psyche breaks.

The creature laughs, a horrifying, raspy sound. It loves this. It lifts up its second talon, and it places it across the man's neck.

"If I kill you, will I learn how to die?" It asks.

It drags its talon across his neck, separating Joebb's head from his body in a fountain of blood.

* * *

Vi stops running. She collapses facedown on a nearby park bench, and starts to sob. Relief floods through her body. Her legs cry out in protest against the abuse she has subjected them to. She was fit by any standard; back in the day, she had earned the reputation of being the fastest member of her gang. But even still, her body felt like it was going to collapse on her from running across nearly the entirety of the city. And Piltover was no small city. They called it a city-state for a reason.

She couldn't have stopped though, until now, her mind couldn't come up with any other alternative than to just keep running. She didn't want to face the possibility that she hadn't just been hallucinating, that Caitlyn was actually somehow still alive. Because if she was, then she also knew what Vi had become. A monster, a horrific beast capable of only murder.

For the first time in a long time, Vi feels fear. True fear, not the adrenaline rush and nervousness one feels before a fight. Vi's never been afraid of fighting. But there is one thought, that makes her feel like she is a little girl again, lost and alone in the dark. What if Caitlyn is actually alive?

_"What if I hurt her?"_

She didn't even want to grasp the fragile thread of hope that Caitlyn might be alive in the first place. Vi only believed in things that were real, that you could touch and see. She'd never been one for hope, or faith, or other intangible concepts like that. Except for love, that had been real. She knew it was real because she could feel it, could feel her heart beating faster when she was with Caitlyn, could feel the warmth from her body when they huddled close at night. She could _feel_ the love pouring from Caitlyn when she stared into those beautiful, violet eyes.

And that was the problem. When Caitlyn had tackled her in that alley, and was on top of her, she had felt _real_. And that had terrified her. It terrified her of what Caitlyn would do to her, if she knew what Vi had done, what Vi had become. Her mind had screamed at her to escape somehow, she had willed it, and it had happened. She didn't know how she had apparently teleported, or phased out, or whatever it was. She had felt the demon surge to the fore, she had felt herself sinking into the ground, and the next thing she knew she was standing halfway across the city. And she had felt the urge to keep running. So she had followed it, and now here she was, on some park bench by the waterfront, with tears in her eyes and exhaustion in her limbs.

She picks herself up and shifts into a sitting position. Lifting her hands to wipe the tears from her eyes, she-

_"Wait, how am I able to lift my hands this easily? Where are my, MY GLOVES! Oh, fuckfuckfuckfuckfuck!"_

Her gauntlets were the two most precious things to her besides Caitlyn, and now she had lost those too.

"_Augh, you fucking idiot! How the hell do you lose 50-pound metal gloves you fuckhead!?"_

She cradles her head in her hands and desperately tries to remember where she might have lost them.

_"Fuuuck... it had to be the theater. And I can't go back there, it's probably the biggest crime scene in the history of Piltover now. And, SHIT! That means they'll find my gauntlets... SHIT!_

_Welp, that it's it for me. Game over man. Game over."_

She sighs heavily.

_"Well, at least there's always a good smoke. You're always there for me cigarettes."_

She takes her lighter and a pack of cigarettes out from her jacket, pulls one out, lights it, and places it in her mouth, taking a long drag.

Vi blows out the smoke in another long, heavy sigh, leans her head back onto the bench and stares up at the star-speckled sky. The night air is cool, but not cold. She can hear the waves gently lapping against the stone of the docks, and the smell of the ocean is calming.

The arm not holding the cigarette sits uselessly at her side, feeling light and powerless. What was she without her gauntlets? Sure, she was a good fighter, one of the best maybe, but without her famous hex-tech gloves, nothing really set her apart from anyone else who knew how to swing their fists around.

_"What do I do now? Find out if Caitlyn is really alive?"_

She takes another drag of her cigarette and blows the smoke out in a ring.

_"And even if she is alive, and I find her again, what then? How could I possibly face her? And what about this thing inside me? I don't know when it's gonna decide to just murder everyone around me. Hell, it could take over in the next five seconds. Hmm, maybe I could just go on a rampage through the under-city, now that the gangs are back. Heh, that'd be fun. Teach them what happens when you fuck around with my city."_

She lifts her head back up and opens her eyes, and her mouth opens in shock, dropping the cigarette onto the bench. Right there, to her left, was a simple stone bridge over the water. There was nothing really special about it, it was about twenty feet long with an upward-curving arch to it, and it connected two parts of the waterfront to each other. There were two lampposts at each end, and they cast a warm glow across the bridge. It was nothing special to the average person, but it was special to Vi. To her, it was the place where she had confessed her true feelings to Caitlyn.

_Caitlyn gazed out over the water, looking contemplative, as Vi stepped up beside her and- _

Vi shook her head chuckled to herself.

_"Nope, that's enough flashbacks for one day. Bad things always happen when I have them anyway. Still, this bridge does hold a lot of memories. Funny how I keep ending up in these places. If I believed in any of that shit, I'd say fate, or destiny or whatever was at work. Load a' bullshit right?"_

Vi stood up, glanced longingly at the bridge, and stretched out her muscles. She had cried, got all these pent-up feelings over Caitlyn out, and that was that.

_"If Caitlyn's alive, all I have to do is avoid her. As much as I want to... no, this is for the best. She'd probably end up killing me anyway. And if she's not alive, then... well, then that solves that problem."_

The pink-haired woman never dwelt long on things, she was a woman of action, and it didn't take long for her to come up with a haphazard plan.

_"Welp, I have a demon in me. No changing that. But there's always a bright side to everything right? And in this case, the bright side is that the demon likes to kill people, and is really good at it. All I gotta do is make sure I'm around people who need killing before I go apeshit or whatever. Shouldn't be too hard in this city. But first, gotta get my gauntlets back. They'll probably be locked up in the old precinct by now. And these new cops might as well be part of the gangs anyway, so I'm sure not gonna mind if this demon kills a few of 'em. Or all of 'em. Shit happens."_

With a fresh sense of purpose, Vi stands up and turns around, only to stop dead. Too late, she realized something was wrong. The air felt dead, the light breeze had ceased, and the water was still. That type of thing only happened when something from the Void was nearby. And nearby, it was indeed.

Standing roughly ten feet away, grinning wickedly at her, was a very large, very dangerous, very purple bug. Sort of like a preying mantis from a horrific nightmare.

The look of shock on Vi's face was quickly replaced with anger, nothing surprised her for long.

"Kha'Zix? What the flying fuck are you doing here? When did they let you out of the Institute?"

The Void Reaver stood up to his full height and flexed his arms, extending his talons and idly shifting them back and forth.

"Those pathetic fools never could keep me under lock and key, I just never had a good reason to leave. Until now."

He smiled at her, revealing a mouth full of fangs.

"So you're the cause of all that Void energy I've sensed lately. Surprising, I never thought Ter'Kul would find another living host. Not after he was sealed away into the darkest part of the Void, oh, a good five or six thousand years ago."

Vi scoffed.

"You expect me to believe that whatever's inside me has been around for five thousand years?"

Kha'Zix flickered his wings and looked at her with a bored expression.

"Oh no, he's existed for far longer than that. My kind was old before your species ever crawled out of the primordial muck that you call "evolution." That never fails to amuse me, your kind knows absolutely nothing of the subject. But that's not the point. It doesn't matter to me at all what you believe or what you don't, because you see, you pose a threat. And I don't much care for those. So, here's what's going to happen."

Kha'Zix tucked in his talons to his chest and crouched down into his combat stance.

"I'm going to kill you, I'm going to cast Ter'Kul back into the Void, and then I'm going to eat your body. Simple right?"

Vi quickly shifted into a fighting stance as the Void Reaver flew at her, talons outstretched and alight with void energy.

She grinned.

_"Bring it on."_

* * *

**_AN: Sorry it took so long to write this, and honestly I don't have an excuse. Other than just not feeling like writing for a while. First I got into RWBY, and started shipping Whiterose and Bumblee, and read nearly every single WR and BB fic on this site, and then after that I finally got around to watching the first season of Attack on Titan. Oh. My. God. The single greatest anime/tv show/ media production to ever be produced on the face of this earth. Eren/Mikasa so hard. So aside from all that, I got really distracted, but now I should be back to writing at a regular pace. Oh, and soon I get to write actual fluff! Anyway, please leave a review if you feel so inclined, and have a great day._**


	8. Chapter 8

As Kha'Zix leapt at her with his talons extended, several thoughts ran through her head in a matter of microseconds.

One, that she had seen Kha'Zix on the Rift before, and knew that his powers were dampened there by the summoners. On the field, he was someone to be wary of, and she knew that off the field, you should be terrified of him.

Two, she wasn't scared of him in the slightest.

Three, she knew why she wasn't scared. It was because she didn't care about whether she lived or died in the next few minutes. Things would be so much easier if Kha'Zix would just kill her. All the pain would go away. It would be so much easier to just give up.

And four, she knew that no matter what, she would fight to the end. She wouldn't give up, because she was Vi, and Vi never gave up, no matter the odds. She refused to go down without a fight.

So she fought. After all, if you didn't fight, you didn't stand a single chance to win. And Vi hated to lose.

She tucked her shoulder and rolled under Kha'Zix as he flew over her head, talons swiping and narrowly missing her.

She knew she was going to lose without her gloves. It was only a matter of time. But she turned around anyway, and twisted to her left, dodging the void spikes Kha'Zix shot at her. Then she did the last thing he expected her to do; she charged him. Slamming into him with all the force she could muster, she picked him up in an incredibly display of strength, and slammed him back down into the ground. He screeched in pain and surprise. As he struggled to pick himself up, Vi continued her assault, sweeping his legs out from under him as he attempted to stand, and forced him back to the ground. Vi brought her leg up and back down again in an stomp as Kha'Zix rolled, her boot missing his head, but slamming down onto his wing and pinning it in place. He shrieked and swung his talons at her, but he was at a disadvantage while on the ground, and he lacked the reach to hit her while she was keeping his wing pinned.

He swiped at her leg this time, forcing her to step back, or lose the limb.

He buzzed his wings and got back on his feet, just in time to meet Vi's fist with his face, as she connected with a nasty left hook. Kha'Zix would have been stunned, but he knew how to take a blow. He rolled his head with the punch and spun with it, dodging Vi's follow-up punch. He screeched at her and fired another rack of his void spikes, forcing her to duck and roll to avoid them. He used his wings and flew backwards, creating some space between them.

"You know, for a pathetic human, you hit quite hard. I honestly didn't expect you to put up this much of a fight without your metal fists. But alas, this has gone on quite long enough. Playtime is over."

With that, a purple aura enveloped him, and he vanished into thin air.

Vi knew this trick. But she knew from experience that he hadn't actually phased out of reality, he was just using the Void to cloak himself. So she knew that he was actually still in front of her, probably running right at her. She knew how to beat him. All she had to do was charge her gauntlets and smash into him before he could come out of stealth.

"Who said I was playing bitch?" Vi yelled. She pulled back her left arm and-

_"Oh. That's right. No gauntlets. Durr, silly me. Welp, good game you crazy-bug thing."_

Vi had fought Kha-Zix enough times to know what was coming next, and she knew that without her gauntlets, there was nothing she could do about it. In the back of her mind, she wondered if the demon would take control of her, but she didn't dare to hope. In her experience, hoping for something just meant being let down when it didn't happen.

For the second time in her life, she prepared to die. She wouldn't go quietly though, she dropped into her fighting stance and braced. If Kha'Zix was about to kill her, she would go down swinging.

Except it never happened. A good ten seconds had passed, and Kha'Zix hadn't sliced her head off yet. That wasn't like him, he normally didn't waste time on a kill.

"What's the matter you stupid grasshopper? You get scared and run aw-URK!"

Vi looked down in shock to find two shimmering talons protruding from her chest. Her vision started to grey out, and she struggled to maintain consciousness.

Kha'Zix spoke from behind her. "No, I didn't get scared and run. I simply wanted to savor your fear. Unfortunately, weren't feeling any. And might I say how unkind that is of you? I'm giving you a quick and painless death, the least you could do is feel a bit of terror for me. No fun at all.

In the darkness of her mind, she felt something stir. Something ancient and evil. She knew what this meant, and she started to laugh, shakingly at first. The movement hurt, since Kha'Zix's talons were still embedded in her stomach.

"Are you... laughing? You humans never cease to amaze me. Or is that disgust I'm feeling? Oh, I can never figure out which."

Vi struggled to speak in between her fits of laughter, as she grasped the talons protruding from her chest in an attempt to not fall over.

"S-So that's how's it's going to be, huh? Well do your worst then," she said.

"My worst? My dear, I believe I've done my best. You're not in much of a position to be talking anyway. Would you just hurry up and die already?"

"Mmmph, wasn't talking to you," she breathed out in a hoarse whisper. Vi realized with her fading mind that this was one of the strangest conversations she'd ever had, considering that she was speaking to a demon inside her mind, and a giant bug who currently had his talons running through her chest.

"Well if you weren't talking to me, just who are you talking to? In case you didn't notice, we're the only ones here!"

"I was t-talking to the thing inside me, whatever it is, you dumbass."

"It? Well who is... oh. Oh. Really? Ter'Kul has become that powerful? The last time he had a host, he wasn't able to assume direct control more than once a month. This is certainly problematic."

At that point, Vi was beyond speech. Her mind was spiralling downwards into a pit of blackest night, and something else was rising up to take its place.

Her hair turned a pale white, as did her skin. Her fingers lengthened and grew into black talons, and she snarled as her teeth were filed into razor-sharp fangs. Her pupils expanded until they covered the entire eyeball, turning them into pitch-black orbs.

Kha'Zix shrieked as he felt the wounds in her chest close on themselves, trapping his talons. Her flesh felt like iron now, and he struggled as he attempted to pull them out.

The transformation was complete. Ter'Kul was completely in control now. It calmly reached out its hands and grasped Kha'Zix's talons, at the point where they protruded from its flesh.

And then it smiled, a horrible, wicked expression, with no warmth behind it. When it spoke, it spoke with the voices of a hundred people at once.

"**Ah, Kha'Zix. How long has it been? A few thousand years or so? Since you and your brothers betrayed me and left me to rot in the darkest pits of the Void? Oh yes, I remember. I never forgot.**"

At that, the Void Reaver froze. For the first time in roughly five thousand years, he felt fear. It was alien to him after so long, and he hated it. Fear was his weapon, his tool, and he knew there was no more potent a weapon than one turned against its owner. His heightened survival instincts screamed at him to flee, to get out of there by any means necessary.

"**I'm going to kill you, Kha'Zix. I'm going to rip off your little wings, and your talons, and your legs. Much like a young human boy does when he finds an insect for the first time. I find the analogy fitting, don't you?**"

With that terrible grin still on its face, Ter'Kul gripped the talons protruding from its chest and pulled them right through its stomach, ripping them out from the segmented joints on Kha'Zix's arms.

Kha'Zix shrieked in agony and stumbled backwards, purple blood jetting from the stumps of his arms.

The white-haired demon dropped the talons on the ground and turned around slowly, the horrible smile never leaving its face.

A normal opponent would be defeated by having their arms ripped from their body, but Kha'Zix was no ordinary beast. Above all, he was a master hunter, and as such he had an incredibly heightened survival instinct. A survival instinct that had just kicked into overdrive, almost controlling his body for him. Without a moment of hesitation he leaped into the air, wings buzzing so fast they were nothing more than a blur, and took off into the sky.

"**You won't be getting away that easily...**" Ter'Kul whispered. It knew from experience that Kha'Zix couldn't actually fly, he could only perform flying leaps over incredibly vast distances. His wings weren't strong enough to carry him for an extended amount of time.

The demon planted its feet into the ground and braced, looking like a marathon runner waiting for the sound of the gun. The ground underneath it cracked, as it braced its legs and leaped into the air after Kha'Zix, the force of its jump shattering the stone it was standing on. Ter'Kul easily covered five hundred feet or more before gravity took over, but it wasn't done. It slammed into the ground, using its momentum to enter a dead sprint that would appear as a blur to human eyes. It leapt into the air again, in another impossible display of strength and speed. Buildings rushed by on either side, the lights appearing like a solid mass of color in the night, as Ter'Kul finally caught sight of its prey. The demons abilities didn't only extend to its hosts physical form, but its senses as well. With those pitch black orbs, Ter'Kul could see Kha'Zix like he was right in front of him, even though he already had a lead of almost a mile. But the demon could see that it was catching up. Doing a quick set of calculations, Ter'Kul estimated it would catch up to the Void Reaver in less than two minutes. Another wicked grin formed on its face. He landed, and leapt into the air yet again, moving faster and faster.

Out of the corner of its eye, it saw a flash of violet light on an empty street, roughly a block to its right, catching its attention for a second. It wondered if it was a Void rift, and couldn't think of anything else that looked like that.

Ter'Kul kept one eye focused on its prey while the other scanned its surroundings, even as they whipped by in a blur. There! Another flash of purple, this time ahead of him. Its hyper-evolved mind ran through possible reactions to the threat. The last thing it expected was for a portal to burst into existence directly in its path through the sky. But that was precisely what happened.

As Ter'Kul was flying through the air purely on momentum, it had no way to change course, or otherwise avoid the anomaly in its way. The portal glowed, and something came out of it.

Ter'Kul extended its talons and braced itself for a high-speed collision. It opened its fanged maw and let out a high-pitched screech.

"Silence, beast!" Kassadin hurtled out of the rift, and flung a glowing violet orb of raw null energy at Ter'Kul, as the distance rapidly closed between them.

The demon shrieked as the orb slammed into it, seeming to stretch around it and warp its features.

Ter'Kul cried out in agony as he was forced to recede back into his mortal host. The change wasn't slow this time, the horns that Vi had grown shattered, her talons splintered, and her pupils snapped back to their regular size, causing blood to leak from her eyes. She screamed in agony as she was thrust back into reality, the pain flooding her senses. Her mind could not comprehend that she was hundreds of feet up in the air, and flying through it at nearly two hundred miles an hour.

Kassadin reached out to her as she flew past him, tumbling through the air, and ensnared her with tendrils of Void energy. He used them to slow her momentum, before halting it completely. He let himself start to slowly float to the ground, taking her with him. The wind rushing through the air pulled and tugged at his robes. The only sound was Vi's soft whimpers of pain, and Kassadin's strange mechanical breathing.

Vi managed to regain part of her conciousness for long enough to realize where she was, and who had saved her from falling to her death.

"Kassadin? Wha-," she managed to croak before breaking out into a series of rough coughs.

"Do not be afraid. You are safe now," he said.

Vi only managed to nod weakly in reply. She tried to fight the oncoming blackness, but lost the battle, as her body went limp and she blacked out. The last thing she remember was how beautiful the city lights looked from so high up.

* * *

The last thing Vi wanted to do was wake up. She was getting some of the most uncomfortable sleep she could ever recall, but sleep was sleep, and she hadn't been getting much of it lately. Unfortunately, it seemed the forces of Piltover were conspiring against her. The stone she was laying awkwardly on was uncomfortable. The sound of the cars speeding by below her would not stop. The sun would occasionally peek through the clouds and blind her, no matter how hard she mashed her eyelids shut.

"I fucking hate this city," she mumbled, "maybe I should have just let Jinx blow it all up."

"That would be counter-productive to your goals as an officer of this city, would it not?"

Vi sat up quickly, and looked for the source of the voice. She had thought she was alone. Now that she thought of it actually, she didn't even know where she was in the first place.

She spotted Kassadin standing on the corner of what she now realized was the roof of a building, but she couldn't tell how tall it was. The skyscrapers surrounding them didn't exactly give much of a reference. After a while, all the buildings in Piltover tended to look the same, and Vi had never been good at telling them apart in the first place. She stood up and stretched, flexing her sore muscles and wishing she had her gauntlets.

"I see you are finally awake," Kassadin said. "You have been asleep for almost thirteen hours now."

Stepping up beside him and peering over the edge, she realized they were actually about thirty stories up in the air. She whistled appreciatively at the view.

She felt a familiar urge, and reached within the pocket of her jacket to take out her pack of cigarettes, now almost empty. She pulled one out, and then offered the pack to Kassadin.

"I'm not really an officer anymore though. You smoke?"

He simply turned his head and stared at her with his glowing yellow eyes, face covered with a mechanical breathing apparatus.

Vi quickly realized the problem. "Oh... right. Do you actually have a mouth under that thing or is it... you know?"

"No, I assure you I still have a face under all this. It doesn't work as well as it used to though, let's just leave it at that."

Vi took a drag from her cigarette, and blew a ring of smoke out into the empty space between the buildings, where it got carried away by the wind.

"Alrighty then. So, why did you save me back there? Last thing I remember, I was flying through the air for some reason. I remember you, and that's about it."

Kassadin stared out over the concrete jungle before him. After a few drawn-out seconds, he spoke.

"Let me begin by telling you that I already know everything that has happened to you in the past two weeks, or should I say, two years. It all depends on your perspective. And I'd guess that you want to know more about the Void entity that is currently inhabiting your mind. Am I correct in that assumption?"

"Obviously." Vi replied. "What kind of person would realize they have a fucking murdering psychopathic demon in their head, that takes them over from time to time, and not want to know more about it? That was a stupid question Kass."

"No question is stupid," he said, "when it comes to matters of the Void. I will begin by telling you what I know of Ter'Kul, as that is the name he was given, when he first came into being before the dawn of time as we know it."

"Wait, so this thing is how old?" Vi asked, as she finished off her cigarette and flicked the stub over the edge of the roof.

"No one knows. I doubt even the creature itself is certain anymore. The Void has been around for far, far longer than our dimension. It's inhabitants were old when our realm was first coming into existence."

"Greeaat, so I've got a trillion year old Void beast inside me. Well, it's an interesting topic to bring up at parties I guess." She sat down on the edge of the building, letting her legs dangle over the vast empty space below her.

"You gonna sit down?" she asked. "Can you... even sit down?"

Kassadin looked down at her with the inscrutable yellow lenses of his mask. "I would prefer to stand, thank you. But back to the topic at hand."

He returned to staring out at the expanse of the skyscrapers, and Vi found herself wondering exactly what he saw out there. She realized he probably saw much more than just the physical world.

"Ter'Kul is a unique type of Void beast, because he cannot enter our realm in the way most of its inhabitants can. He requires a physical host. After an indeterminate period of gestation, during which he is gathering his strength, transferring it from the Void to the new dimension, he is released. Sometimes this almost cocoon-like state takes only weeks, and sometimes it may require multiple years. It all depends on the mental strength of the being he manages to force himself into. You, Vi, are a very strong-willed person. Normally, I would say it would be years before he is able to manifest his full strength, but we have to factor something else into consideration."

Vi didn't like the sound of that.

"Roughly five aeons ago, Ter'Kul was sealed away by the Lord of the Void, a being I have only heard whispers of, into a separate pocket of Void space that is impossible to escape from. I do not know why, and I do not know how he managed to escape. There is only one thing I can think of. When you were hurled into the Void, the portal didn't have a set return destination. Vel'Koz wasn't planning on having to retreat-"

"Wait, who the fuck is Vel'Koz?" Vi interrupted.

"The creature we tried to stop from entering Runeterra two years ago. He has since been captured, and is now a League champion. But that is irrelevant. Has anyone ever told you that you get off-topic a lot?

Vi let out a laugh. "Once or twice."

"Anyway, the portal you fell into could have taken you literally anywhere in the Void. I can only assume you were unlucky enough to fall into Ter'Kul's prison. It most likely wasn't protected against a random portal such as that, since that chances of a portal linking to that particular part of closed Void-space, which is infinite, are so small that your human mind cannot comprehend them. A series of incredibly unfortunate events, you might say."

Vi laughed softly. "Story of my life, Kass."

"Since he was in that black pit of a dimension for so long, he has had nothing to do but gather his strength. Imagine his power as a flowing river, and then you place a dam in its path. The river is now pent-up and ready to overflow. As soon as the dam breaks, it all comes rushing forth in a giant flood. The dam breaking was when he escaped from his prison, and found a mortal host. Now his power is overflowing, and I estimate it will only be a few short days until he is ready to unleash his true form. "

Vi sighed heavily. This situation just got better and better. "Well that sounds fun. What... what happens to me when he, you know reaches full strength or whatever?"

Kassadin turned to look down at her. "You will die. Horribly, I might add. You will literally explode in a massive burst of Void energy, destroying everything within roughly twenty square miles. Give or take. And as bad as that will be for Piltover, it will be worse for the rest of the world."

Vi stared at him with a dumbfounded expression on her face. "You're telling me I'm a fucking walking nuke, and it's somehow worse for everyone else? How the hell do you figure that?"

Kassadin continued to stare at her, and it made her feel small and insignificant. She got the sense that he wasn't even human anymore.

"Because the blast will open the biggest portal between our dimensions that our world has ever seen. Countless Void beasts will be able to come and go as they please, beings that make Cho'Gath look like a harmless rabbit. The portal will continue to grow, as Ter'Kul and his brethren feed it with more and more souls. Every being killed, be they human or otherwise, will feed the portal's expansion, until it swallows us all completely, and absorbs Runeterra into the Void. It is an event known as Dimension-Meld. Do you understand now Vi? It will be the end of everything. This is how worlds are killed."

Vi stared straight ahead, struggling to comprehend what Kassadin had told her.

"Well fuck me sideways. I don't... I mean, what do we do? What can we do? There's gotta be something we can do, right?"

"I am... unsure. Ter'Kul was known as the Harbinger of Annihilation for a reason. As far as I know, none of the worlds he has successfully manifested in have survived what ensues."

"You said successfully manifested, right? So is there a way to stop him before he blows me the fuck up? Can you just... kill me?"

Kassadin formed a sphere of Void energy in his palm and stared at it, slowly spinning it around and examining it from different angles.

"As you have seen before, as long as he has power over you, you cannot be killed. Every time he senses you are about to die, he takes control of you and prevents your death. That is why I came to find you. There may be a way to temporarily force him into a sort of hibernation, which will allow you to be killed, and that is the only solution I can think of. Kill the host, and the parasite has nothing to feed on. But like I said earlier, I am not yet certain. I must travel into the Void in search of answers. For now though, there is something that may be able to help. Every time he is forced to take control, and use his powers, it weakens him and slows the gestation process. So as painful it will be for you, I recommend that you try to die as much as possible while I seek answers."

Vi shook her head slowly as she stared at the street hundreds of feet below her. What would happen if she just jumped?

"Well, it's not like I've ever had trouble getting into situations where people are trying to kill me. So it shouldn't be that hard."

Kassadin crushed the sphere into his palm and looked at Vi.

"I have to ask. Are you not afraid to die? This doesn't seem to be bothering you much."

Vi stared back at him with a small grin on her face.

"Nah, I only ever really had one reason for living. And it's gone now, so fuck it." She spread her arms and looked up at the grey, cloud-covered sky. "So come at me, Void bitches! Vi's right here."

"_But is she really gone?_" her subconscious asked her. Another thought occurred to her.

"Oh, by the was Kass, why the hell is Kha'Zix going after me? Wouldn't a massive Void portal be something he wants?"

"Creatures of the Void are selfish Vi, and from what I can surmise, if Ter'Kul ended this existence, Kha'Zix would have to find a new hunting ground. And if his ongoing battle with Rengar is anything to go by, he quite enjoys hunting the creatures of this realm. It's in his interests to stop Ter'Kul. I doubt he'll come after you again, but Kha'Zix can be unpredictable. Be prepared for anything."

Kassadin lifted slightly off the ground, and floated out over the empty expanse between buildings. He began forming his hands into different symbols, and a small point of violet light popped into existence in front of him. As his hand movements sped up, the point grew larger, until it started to form a portal to the Void. He spoke as he did this.

"It's in both of our best interests if I start my research immediately. If I don't find a way to stop Ter'Kul before he achieves his full power, this world will end. The stakes have never been higher, even in the Rune Wars."

Vi laughed, and an easy grin formed on her face. "So, no pressure right?"

But in the back of her mind, one thought was still disturbing her. It wouldn't go away, no matter how hard she tried. "_He probably doesn't know anyway,_" she thought. But she had to ask. She had to be sure.

She reached out her arm and caught his, before he could step into the portal. The wind was whipping around it. He turned to face her, his expression as inscrutable as always.

"Kassadin... is there any to tell if... do you know if Caitlyn is alive?"

Kassadin turned back to the Void portal and shrugged his arm free of Vi's grip. The air swirled around them, whipping his robe back and forth, and strange sounds akin to screaming were coming from the portal.

"Remember your duty Vi. Remember what you must do to save the lives of everyone on Runeterra. But yes. She is alive. If you need to speak to her, find her and do it soon. You do not have long."

With that, he vanished into the portal, and it closed behind him with a snapping sound.

Vi's arm hung loosely in the air, pointed towards the spot that Kassadin had just occupied. Her face was blank and unreadable, her pink mohawk stirred by the now-gentle breeze.

"_That changes everything. I __**have**__ to find her._"

She was feeling so many different emotions, all from one simple statement from Kassadin.

"_Caitlyn is alive._"

Relief, surprise, happiness, fear, sadness, apprehension, love, despair, all these and more swirled through her brain, assaulting her from all sides. But none of them could stop her now.

"Caitlyn, I'll find you," she whispered to the air. "Wait for me."

* * *

**_A/N: In the endless distraction war between my free time and my writing, a new enemy has reared it's ugly head. And it is called The Elder Scrolls Online. I think that game is sucking my soul out as I play it. So anyway, Chapter 8. It's around 5000 words, is this a good length, or should I back to writing longer chapters? Keep in mind, that longer chapters = less chapters. I keep saying I'll get to write fluff soon, but it just gets further and further away. It'll be soon though. Please leave a review and tell me what you think, I really enjoy reading them._**


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